Introduction
Dementia care in the UK is a growing concern as there are more elderly people in this country and dementia-related disorders are becoming more frequent. The current research aims to review the existing approaches to managing dementia and evaluating their influence on the patient’s quality of life, as well as the healthcare sector. It will have to review the current options and standards of care services that include residential care, community care, and the National Health Services (Aldridge et al., 2020). The research will also have formats of statistical rates, which will point out the gaps experienced in the process of delivering the services and what has to be done. However, differing from qualitative research, this study will use quantitative methods to measure the data on patient’s statuses, burden of care, and overall healthcare expenditures. The objective of the study is to contribute to the policy guidelines on improving the current dementia care in the United Kingdom to support those individuals suffering from dementia.
Statement of the Problem
Dementia is present in over 900,000 people in the United Kingdom with 1 in 3 people being diagnosed with dementia expected to increase to more than 1.6 million by the year 2040 (Alzheimer’s Society, 2023). There are still flaws in the support of people with dementia such as lack of finances, health-care facilities, disparities in service delivery, and high levels of stress among the caregivers. Most of the patients are diagnosed to take long periods before being diagnosed and there are few resources available to support them physically, hence the quality of patient life is compromised. Moreover, the families’ financial cost and the burden on the NHS are increasing even more due to the shortages of available and suitable products (Chalmers et al., 2019). This paper, therefore, examines these by analyzing quantitative data on the impact of current dementia care services to offer recommendations for enhancing the policies namely implemented in the United Kingdom.
Literature Review
Challenges in dementia care of patients in the UK include service preferences, quality of care, care outcomes, the burden of care on relatives, and costs. The present literature review includes research from 2019 to 2025 to review the current status of dementia care services and pinpoint these aspects to evaluate the existing services.
Accessibility and Quality of Dementia Care Services
It has been established that there is a variation in the rate of dementia diagnosis services across the Walt of England and that there is every rising indication that the current actual rate of diagnosis is lower than that of the government’s set goal of 66.7%. This means that early detection is complicated, thus delays in treatment and worsened inequality between regions in the provision of treatment. This paper aimed to identify the importance of increased appropriate care services since dementia is now established to be the leading cause of death in Britain (Chamberlain and Harrison Dening, 2020). There are possibilities available through applications of technology to increase the access and use of advanced forms of care. A scoping review demonstrated that members with dementia may benefit from a range of technologies in the form of assistive devices, portable applications, sensors, and GPS tracking. These technologies help in routine management, decision-making, and care caregivers said, thereby enhancing the quality of care and the result for the patient (Drowley and Burns, 2022).
Patient Health Outcomes and Caregiver Burden
Recent research has provided evidence regarding the outcomes of the processes of personalized care. For instance, the NIDUS-Family program, which is designed to help dementia patients with the task of attaining personal goals such as making tea on their own or dressing, has proven helpful in preventing hospitalization and moving to care homes. To the same extent as for patient autonomy, it also helps relieve caregiver burden by encouraging the patients to be independent. Others include physical activity as a measure that has been deemed to help lower the incidence of dementia. It has been determined that engaging in moderate to vigorous physical activities can help reduce the likelihood of developing dementia by as much as 41% even if such activities are in minimal amounts According to researchers at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health (Frost et al., 2020a). This means that regular moderate physical activity, which could be adopted in patients’ daily lives can act as a protective factor and this could have positive impacts on the patient’s overall course of the disease and the stress that caregivers may undergo as a result of the disease.
Financial Implications for Families and the NHS
It was ascertained that the financial cost of dementia is equally high for both the family and the National Health Service (NHS). Dementia care costs are expected to increase significantly in the UK due to an increase in the population and aging. The trend raises essential issues for enrolment of resources in healthcare systems that you need to consider and this means that cost-effective ways of managing resources are highly desirable. There are some interventions aimed at ensuring that these negative impacts are reversed through utilizing technology in care to address the following financial issues. A systematic review has revealed the potential of home-connected sensors, heath watches, and wearables in improving patient’s condition and decreasing the cost of health care budget. Some of the intervention strategies include: Abnormal checks; Socially assistive robots; Mechanical prompting; Sensory strategies; and Cognitive aids. This association holds the potential of risking more kroner for the NHS while at the same time enhancing the satisfaction of patients (Frost et al., 2020b).
Research and Policy Recommendations
It has been suggested that healthcare providers should enhance their professional skills to improve dementia care standards. Reviews have pointed out that care workers need training that focuses on using effective communication and understanding cultural practices to address the needs of individuals affected by dementia and their caregivers. Further, ensuring better care environments and settings at a home and neighbourhood level including environmental redesign for persons with dementia is also advised to enable them to remain at home for as long as possible. In addition, there are several prospects of machine learning in dementia: analytics advances the identification methods of the diseases and enhances the care delivery as well. It has been noted that AI-based techniques can help in the identification of early dementia, which is very important especially when the patient or anyone known to be affected is to be provided adequate support and care. Possible directions for further studies involve improving the methods of AI model interpretability and using them for practical decision-making in dementia care settings (Harrison Dening, 2020a).
Rationales of the study
Dementia is a common condition characterized by a decline in brain functions which includes; memory, thinking, and the ability to carry out daily activities; therefore, a major health concern globally and especially in the UK. Alzheimer’s disease and other forms of dementia have not received adequate attention from researchers, and this is evident since there are still deficiencies in the delivery of dementia services, high average waiting times for diagnosis, and rare post-diagnostic support services. Such challenges show that there is a need to evaluate the quality of dementia care services.
This study is important because dementia not only impacts the patient but also causes a heavy burden on caregivers and society from a social, economic, and emotional perspective. As the statistical indications significantly suggest continued growth in the prevalence of the disease in the future, one cannot underestimate the importance of assessing the availability, effectiveness, and cost of care services. The quantitative approach will enable the author of this research to gather data that will outline the current practices in the management of dementia and its effects. Furthermore, the roles that policy development, updates and support, technology, and funding for health care delivery will be investigated in the study. (Harrison Dening, 2020).
Aim & objectives
Aim:
To assess the effectiveness of dementia care services in the UK and identify areas for improvement to enhance patient well-being and healthcare efficiency.
Objectives:
- To evaluate the accessibility and quality of dementia care services across different regions in the UK.
- To analyse the impact of dementia care on patient health outcomes and caregiver burden using quantitative data.
- To examine the financial implications of dementia care for both families and the NHS, identifying cost-effective strategies for service improvement.
Research Questions
- How accessible and effective are dementia care services across different regions in the UK?
- What is the impact of dementia care services on patient health outcomes and caregiver burden based on quantitative data?
- What are the financial implications of dementia care for families and the NHS, and what cost-effective strategies can improve service delivery?
Methodology
Data Collection
This analysis uses secondary research materials like government sources and reports, NHS datasets, research papers, and other statistical data including that of the Alzheimer’s Society. The articles and information required will be searched from the PubMed, Google Scholar, and ScienceDirect database and only relevant and quality data will be used (Morris et al., 2023).
The literature review and the objectives used in searching for the literature include the following: dementia care UK Or dementia, care accessibility patient outcome, caregiver burden and financial implications, NHS funding for dementia not from the UK, and cost-effective dementia care strategies. Keywords like AND, OR, and NOT will enhance the search results to accept relevant results and reject irrelevant studies (Surr et al., 2020).
Concerning the participants, only peer-reviewed articles were considered, and the publication date ranged from 2019 to 2025, articles originating from the UK, as well as research based on quantitative data only. Removing studies that have no quantifiable data, that were published before 2019, or that examined non-UK dementia care policies, criteria will be excluded from participating in the meta-analysis. Screening of the abstracts, keywords, and full texts will be used as part of the data acquisition process to determine data sources that can suit the study best.
Data Analysis
Quantitative statistical analysis will be employed to determine the extent of access to dementia care, the respective health status of the patients as well as the financial consequence of the dementia care. Descriptive statistics shall be used in the study to establish the differences in availability of dementia care services across the regions where diagnostic rates, accessibility and the satisfaction of patients shall be compared. A regression analysis test will be used to compare differences in care quality for the patients and a correlation analysis to compare the burden and costs incurred by caregivers of the patients. The information for statistical analysis will be extracted from the NHS reports, the census, and other healthcare research, thus having strong methodology. It will be done in the light of current literature to analyses the gaps in the aspects of caring, service delivery and cost implications (Surr et al., 2020).
Ethical Considerations and Gantt Chart
As for the study, it involves the use of secondary data and therefore does not need approval from a research ethics committee. However, ethical considerations will be observed by observing privacy and anonymity by only using secondary ethically collected data and analysing it honestly without misrepresenting any information. Patient data will not be disclosed and necessary sources will be referred to diminish percentages of plagiarism. All selected datasets will also meet the GDPR and UK data protection regulations.
The study will have several timelines to provide a clear notion regarding the main activities of the investigation, which comprises literature review, collection of data, analysis, and report writing time. Using Gantt chart, length of work on various activities will be established to achieve the research objectives in time. This approach guarantees objective and coherent assessment of dementia care programme in the UK and offer solutions for increasing its access, effectiveness, and affordability (Wolverson et al., 2020).
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Research Philosophy and Approach
In the context of this research, the writer has chosen the positivist research philosophy, which deals with quantifiable facts that can be observed and measured. Positivism orientation is appropriate for the given study since the subjects under investigation involve observable factors of dementia care like accessibility, patient outcomes, and cost. The study employs the use of statistics and quantitative data hence making it reliable, valid, and generalizable for general use. Positivism is different from the interpretive paradigms because it can be used to analyse numerous participants’ observations and compare the patterns of dementia care in the UK regions. Thus, the study employs a deductive research method, which operates from theory and framework on dementia care, health care access, and economic effects. Based on the literature review, hypotheses or assumptions are created and checked with the help of collected quantitative data. Ideally, this approach is suitable for establishing deficiencies in dementia care services and costs, as well as for suggesting more efficient expenditures. Since the positivist worldview and the deductive method are compatible with quantitative research, it is possible to assess the major research variables statistically. Information for this paper will be gathered from NHS reports, government health statistics, and other scholarly articles to assure the validity of the information, to compare the dementia care quality, health outcomes, and financial burdens, regression analysis, correlation analysis, and descriptive statistical analysis will be applied (Wolverson et al., 2020). In achieving these objectives, the study adopts a positivist philosophy, a deduced research approach, and a quantitative research method, which will provide an objective, evidence-based understanding of dementia care services in the UK. These conclusions will help formulate authoritative prescriptive conclusions on putting into practice the care reforms, enhancing health care access and affordable care whilst reducing the costs to caregivers for the care of clients.
Conclusion
The subjects of dementia care examined are accessibility, patient quality of care, burden of care on the carers, and costs. Applying the quantitative method, the study aims to identify the variations in regional patterns of dementia care services for the patients, their prognosis, the economic burden for families, and the National Healthcare Service (NHS). The use of a positivist research philosophy and deductive research approach enhances an empirical analysis that would involve statistical results and findings. They are the accessibility of a dementia care service, the efficacy of the existing service, and the pros and cons of bringing about a change in the current service by comparing it to existing services that cost less. Ethical issues are designed to avoid or minimize the likelihood of having treatments stained by Pitt and to follow the rules involving data protection and privacy. The planned results of the study will help in developing a better understanding of dementia care policies and the approaches in its delivery, and minimize the financial impacts on families as well as the users of healthcare services. Future studies might pinpoint potential options for incorporating innovations in the management and delivery of dementia care.
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References
Aldridge, Z., Oliver, E., Gardener, H. and Harrison Dening, K., 2020. Admiral Nursing – A model of specialist dementia care in acute hospitals. SAGE Open Nursing, 6, pp.1-11.
Chalmers, C., Fergus, P., Curbelo Montanez, C.A., Sikdar, S., Ball, F. and Kendall, B., 2019. Detecting Activities of Daily Living and Routine Behaviours in Dementia Patients Living Alone Using Smart Meter Load Disaggregation. arXiv preprint arXiv:1903.12080.
Chamberlain, L. and Harrison Dening, K., 2020. Dementia in Prisons: The Admiral Nurse offer. British Journal of Neuroscience Nursing, 16(3), pp.113-120.
Drowley, C. and Burns, L., 2022. Dementia in England: Quantifying and analysing modifiable risk. arXiv preprint arXiv:2204.05863.
Frost, R., Walters, K., Aw, S., Brunskill, G., Wilcock, J., Robinson, L., Knapp, M., Harrison Dening, K., Allan, L., Manthorpe, J. and Rait, G., 2020. How effective are primary care-led models of post-diagnostic dementia care? A systematic review. British Journal of General Practice, 70(695), pp.e434-e441.
Frost, R., Walters, K., Aw, S., Brunskill, G., Wilcock, J., Robinson, L., Knapp, M., Harrison Dening, K., Allan, L., Manthorpe, J. and Rait, G., 2020. Mapping post-diagnostic dementia care in England: an e-survey. Journal of Integrated Care, 28(3), pp.215-225.
Harrison Dening, K., 2020. Recognising pain in dementia: what has changed? British Journal of Neuroscience Nursing, 16(3), pp.125-130.
Harrison Dening, K., 2020. Neurological manifestations of COVID-19. British Journal of Neuroscience Nursing, 16(4), pp.104-105.
Harrison Dening, K., 2020. Minority groups: underserved or underserved populations? British Journal of Neuroscience Nursing, 16(3), pp.5-6.
Morris, S.M., Kelley, R., Ridout, N., Stark, P., Ster, I.C., Barker, S., Macfarlane, A. and Goodman, C., 2023. A 3-UK-nation survey on dementia and the cost of living crisis. Aging & Mental Health, pp.1-8.
Surr, C.A., Smith, S.J., Crossland, J. and Robins, J., 2020. Impact of a person-centred dementia care programme on acute hospital staff attitudes, role efficacy and perceptions of caring for people with dementia: A pretest–posttest study. Nurse Education Today, 88, p.104373.
Wolverson, E.L., Clarke, C. and Vince, A., 2020. The role of emotion regulation in predicting the mental health of older adults experiencing subjective and objective cognitive decline. Aging & Mental Health, 24(2), pp.247-253.
