This month has seen the launch of several trial initiatives to aid elderly people with dementia, as well as a number of notable medical advances
Welcome back for August’s ‘Care Sector News Review’.
This month has seen the launch of several trial initiatives to aid elderly people with dementia, as well as a number of notable medical advances.
Read on to find out about the most important developments in the care sector this month.
Care services
- Sainsbury’s has become the first retailer to trial ‘slow shopping’, a new initiative designed to assist the 80% of people with dementia who cite shopping as their favourite activity.
- One-in-six employees now have caring responsibilities, with 30% – 40% resorting to taking either annual leave, sick leave or compassionate leave in order to carry out their care duties. 38% of employers had no carer support policies in place, and only 21% of carers had flexible working hours authorised.
- A survey by Carers Trust has found that 56% of unpaid carers haven’t accessed online support, while 43% didn’t even know it existed. Those who have accessed support found useful guidance and a communicative support network.
Medical research
- Heart failure in the 60+ age group could be set to triple by 2060, according to a study published in the European Society of Cardiology journal. The highest increases are likely to affect women in the 70 – 79 age bracket.
- British researchers are hoping to find out more about the early stages of Alzheimer’s by using technology to spot the biomarkers that indicate the onset of the condition. It’s hoped that the study – funded by the Medical Research Council and National Institute for Health Research – will form the basis for innovative new treatments in future.
- Cambridge University researchers have alluded to the possible discovery of the genetic mechanism by which Alzheimer’s spreads throughout the brain. Academics participating in the study have theorised that the most effective forms of treatment for Alzheimer’s may lie in strengthening natural defences, rather than blocking all possible triggers.
- Mortality rates from heart attacks and strokes have dropped by over 70% in 35 years thanks to advances in medicine and healthcare, research from Oxford University has found. However, hospital admissions for heart problems have risen 11% in England over the last decade, a trend thought to be linked with increasingly sedentary lifestyles.
- Google’s AI division is set to analyse 700 anonymised CT and MRI scans with a view to cutting the time it takes to design targeted radiotherapy treatments for head and neck cancers by 75%.
- Cancer Research UK has launched a clinical trial that’s hoped will make pancreatic cancer cells more responsive to radiotherapy and chemotherapy treatment.
- Researchers from McMaster University have identified a correlation between four blood-based biomarkers and an increased risk of suffering a stroke. In future, it’s hoped that this trait will enable a person’s stroke risk to be assessed with a simple and un-invasive blood test.
Join us next month for the latest Care Sector News Review, and keep up to date with the latest stories from the care sector.
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