Countries across the world are continuing to wrestle with the impact of an international financial crisis, which has resulted in deep austerity cuts. At the same time, they are having to contend with huge demographic changes, including here in the UK, where more people are living for longer. By themselves, these are significant problems; when taken together they present a massive challenge.
In the last year the UK has hosted two ‘special sessions’ of the G8 nations – and the ideas discussed could help to meet this challenge. One was focused on building a global social investment market. The other looked at agreeing a global response to tackling dementia.
I attended both summits and while the issues they examined might seem very disparate, for me they are inextricably linked.
My mum was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease seven years ago. And it has become clear to me that if we are to cope with the huge task of caring for the people and families affected by dementia, we must do some hard thinking. Like many families who have a relative with dementia, my dad and I have experienced both excellent and frankly unacceptable care and support for my mum.
I am absolutely determined that we should enable more people to live well with dementia in their own communities surrounded by their loved ones. But doing this is an enormous challenge for society. More than 850,000 people in the UK currently have dementia and this will have increased to 1,000,000 by 2021. Dementia already costs us £23bn a year and this amount is rising fast. And a cure is unlikely to be found within the next 10 years.
If we are going to meet this challenge head-on we must look at new ways of raising the finance needed to really transform our public and social sector services. There is currently insufficient public funding to expand existing services let alone to innovate to better meet people’s needs. As founders of the NHS, the Labour party must be at the forefront of the innovation needed to meet this challenge. That is not easy at a time of cuts to social care, low pay and inadequate training for many home carers, and massive pressure on families and the NHS. But it is possible if we are prepared to think afresh.
People with dementia spend twice as long in hospital as someone else with the same condition. They are readmitted to hospital twice as often and, more often, die in hospital. The human suffering is awful – and this situation costs the NHS a fortune. Just imagine the benefits if we were able to fund and support carers, families, voluntary groups and social enterprises to help people to lead safer and more fulfilling lives at home and in the community instead of in hospital or residential care.
In Salford we are lucky to have the Poppy Day centre, a national dementia demonstration centre that has been doing just that. People with dementia enjoy stimulating activities like singing and dancing. They get out of the house, retaining a little independence and giving their families a little respite. And they tend to stay healthier for longer.
But how can we afford to make this kind of community activity the norm when our scarce resources are being swallowed up by acute hospitals that are incentivised to fill their beds?
The answer may come in the form of the social impact bonds championed at the G8 social investment summit. What if we were able to raise funds from social investors who want to make a difference and are prepared to invest over a longer period of time, perhaps for a lower rate of return than traditional investors? What if we then used those funds to invest in community organisations and support carers with proven interventions that would reduce the amount of time people spend in hospital? We could then use the savings to the NHS to pay a return to the investors and fund more preventative work to build the resilience of individuals and their carers.
While there are a lot of ‘what ifs’, the idea is closer to becoming a reality than we think. Work is already taking place to test community interventions that really work and on identifying savings to hospitals. There are social investment funds available and increasing expertise and enthusiasm across all sectors. Who wouldn’t want to be gardening with friends, going out for a cuppa, or taking a walk in the countryside rather than being stuck in hospital?
This is an incredibly exciting opportunity to make a real difference to the lives of those we love. It’s this kind of thinking that can help show that we are a practical, creative and innovative party, that we are optimistic about the issues we face. And that we are prepared to use both our hearts and our heads to solve some of our biggest challenges. Just remind me who said that we are best when we are at our boldest?
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Hazel Blears is member of parliament for Salford and Eccles and a former secretary of state for communities and local government. She is vice-chair of the all party group on dementia
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Photo: Catherine Smith