Service provision for carers and wellbeing

doi:10.1136/bmj.a356

BMJ 2008;336:1392 (21 June), doi:10.1136/bmj.a356

Letters

Carers of people with dementia

Service provision for carers and wellbeing

The first 150 words of the full text of this article appear below.

Butler’s editorial on service provision and distress amongcarers of patients with dementia¹ echoed many of the conclusionsof my undergraduate elective project. I examined distress incarers of patients with Huntington’s disease and whetherimproved service provision and support from voluntary agenciescould reduce it. All the carers I met cited dementia and personalitychange as the most distressing feature of their day to day caring,far outweighing their other losses of time and money and exceedingthe burden of the physical care. Without exception, all thecarers scored highly for anxiety, depression,² and quality oflife using standard validated tools.

Involvement with the Scottish Huntington’s Society didnot alleviate their distress but it provided carers with valuableknowledge of the condition and a sense of empowerment. All carerswho were involved with the society valued its input highly,despite a lack of quantitative benefit to their wellbeing.

This . . . [Full text of this article]

Margaret A Loudon, clinical fellow in cardiology

¹ Torbay Hospital, South Devon NHS Trust, Torquay TQ2 7AA

mloudon@doctors.org.uk