HSE to establish register to help people with dementia

The HSE is to establish a national dementia register to help improve information on diagnostic rates and clinical outcomes for people living with dementia.

The aim of setting up a nationwide register is to support the delivery of services to those with dementia into the future and to design and improve outcomes.

The move comes as the most recent study shows that there are 55,000 people living with dementia in Ireland, with this number expected to rise as people live longer.

Age is the main risk factor for the condition.

Tenders are now being invited by the HSE for interested bodies to carry out “exploratory work” into the setting-up of a national registry or database.

Funding of €200,000 has been made available for this project from the dormant accounts fund.

“An objective under the National Dementia Strategy (2014) is to improve national, regional and local estimates of current and future prevalence of dementia across all care settings,” the HSE said in a statement this week.

“It also sets out an objective for better evidence on diagnostic rates, sub-types, and clinical outcomes for those living with the condition and for better collection of data and use of evidence to inform health and social system responses to the needs of people with dementia and their carers.”

A national register “has the potential to meet these objectives,” it said.

Researchers from DCU, commissioned by the Alzheimer Society of Ireland, recommended the development of such a resource last year, prompting the HSE’s decision to look for tenders for the establishment of a register.

“The development of an appropriate model requires expert input including legal, ethical and health economic information, identifying an appropriate IT platform, as well as costing and testing the model.”