National dementia strategy ‘needed urgently’

A DEMENTIA strategy is urgently needed for more than 40,000 people who have the condition, which is emerging as one of the significant and costly in Ireland.

It is predicted that the number of people suffering from dementia could rise by almost 40% within a decade.

Consultant psychiatrist Dr Henry O’Connell, who specialises in the psychiatry of later life, said that there are no clear pathways of referral for assessment, diagnosis and management of the disorder.