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Older people with mental health problems: improving services and support

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Title: Older people with mental health problems: improving services and support


1
Older people with mental health problems
improving services and support
  • Helen Owen
  • Age Concern Cymru

2
What was the Inquiry?
  • UK-wide project
  • Led by an independent Board, assisted by
    Government participants and Advisory Group
    members
  • Two stages
  • Concluded August 2007

3
Improving services and support for older people
with mental health problems
  • Supported by Age Concern
  • Views and experiences of older people with mental
    health problems
  • 5 themes
  • Ending discrimination
  • Preventing problems
  • Enabling older people to help themselves and each
    other
  • Improving current services
  • Facilitating change

4
What are the main issues?
  • Demographic change
  • Wide range of problems
  • Costs of inaction
  • Age discrimination in mental health
  • Policy is disjointed
  • Leadership has been lacking

5
Facts and figures
  • 1 in 4 older people living in the community have
    symptoms of depression mostly undiagnosed
  • Up to 60 per cent of older people in acute
    hospitals experience mental health problems
  • Women aged 75 and over have the highest suicide
    rates of all women in the UK men aged 75 and
    over have the second highest rates of all men
  • People aged 55 74 have highest rate of
    alcohol-related deaths in the UK

6
What did older people with mental health
problems say?
7
Ending discrimination
  • The thing is if youve got a broken arm youve
    got people wanting to help, let me cook you a
    meal. If youve got a broken heart and a broken
    head they just dont want to know.

8
Preventing mental health problems
  • Its not getting ill that worries me its
    being able to get out and about, to do the things
    that matter to me.

9
Dementia
  • 5 of people aged 65 and over have dementia
    rising to 20 of people over 80 and 33 of people
    aged 95 and over
  • Nearly two thirds (64) of these are cared for in
    the community
  • More than one third (36) live in care homes
  • A third of people who care for an older person
    with dementia have depression

10
Enabling older people to help themselves and each
other
  • Use it or lose it! I work myself to the bone,
    and it works for me. Seven years on from being
    diagnosed Im still living with dementia, not
    dying from it

11
Improving current services
  • Primary care should play an important role
  • Housing support is often overlooked
  • Age discrimination in social care and specialist
    mental health services is a major problem

12
Improving current services (contd)
  • Going to a group and mixing with others who had
    similar problems as me was good. And having
    someone to talk to I liked my support worker.
    But I cant get that now because of my age I
    feel alone and isolated. I feel as if theres no
    reason to get up. I feel terrible I feel
    suicidal. I was going to harm myself recently.

13
Improving current services (contd)
  • Acute hospital care
  • Care homes

14
Facilitating change
  • Key actions
  • Workforce development
  • Education and training to meet population needs
  • Capacity building and support
  • Investment
  • Strong Leadership

15
Recommendations Key areas
  • Leadership
  • Age discrimination
  • Well-being / preventative approaches
  • Empowering older people
  • Improving current services
  • Education and training
  • Building the evidence base
  • Investment

16
National government should
  • Establish a task force to drive service
    improvement
  • Ensure that age equality underpins all mental
    health policy
  • Place a duty on public bodies to promote age
    equality
  • Increase investment in services for older
    peoples mental health

17
The NHS and local government should
  • Include older people with mental health problems
    in strategies to promote well-being
  • Support community-based initiatives to reduce
    isolation and increase social support
  • Involve older people with mental health problems
    in planning and evaluating services

18
Health, social care and housing commissioners
  • Develop comprehensive mental health commissioning
    strategies for all adults
  • Set standards for providers to identify mental
    and physical health problems
  • Offer flexible home care both emotional and
    practical
  • Develop information and advice, advocacy and
    self-help/peer support groups

19
Inspection and regulatory bodies should
  • Incorporate age equality principles into all
    their work
  • Prioritise assessment of mental health services
    for older people
  • Develop standards to encourage identification of
    mental health needs by providers care homes are
    a priority
  • Require all basic training courses to include
    assessment and care of older people with mental
    health needs (professional regulators)

20
The Voluntary Sector should
  • Ensure that suitable mental health services are
    available and accessible to older people with
    mental health problems
  • Work with professional bodies, with the media and
    with older people to publicise positive stories
    of hope and recovery from mental health problems
    in later life
  • Prepare younger adults with mental health
    problems for transition in later life

21
In conclusions
22
Contact details
  • Helen Owen
  • Age Concern Cymru North Wales Office
  • Tel 01286672045
  • Email owenh_at_accymrunorth.demon.co.uk
  • For copies of the two reports visit
  • www.mhilli.org or www.accymru.org.uk
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