Yes agree although health and social care are separate and that is a major part of the problem. Residential care, day care, home support and respite all come under the banner of social care.
The Long Goodbye: our new advertising campaign
- Thread starter HarrietD
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My mum is at late stage and I found the advert a difficult watch but I'm glad that it is helping to raise awareness of dementia with the public. Dementia affects so many people but in different ways, and everyone with dementia is different, so it's impossible to cover topics that will apply to everyone's situation within a 60-90 second advert. As with most advertising campaigns, the TV/radio advert seems to be just one part of a bigger picture rather than a 'stand alone' project.
For those interested, more background about the current advert is here:
https://www.alzheimers.org.uk/about-us/dementia-news-and-media/long-goodbye
The 'Long Goodbye' campaign also includes Bill & Jo Wilson’s story via a video and article, where Bill talks about problems in getting a diagnosis and social care issues:
https://www.alzheimers.org.uk/blog/bills-story-someone-dying-dementia-over-and-over-again
In addition, Julie Goodyear (Bet Lynch in Coronation Street) and her husband Scott are supporting the campaign and their story has been covered widely by most of the major news channels and across social media:
https://www.mirror.co.uk/3am/celebrity-news/julie-goodyears-husband-watching-itv-32402558
Details of other Alzheimer’s Society campaigns, and details of how you can sign up to help, are here:
https://www.alzheimers.org.uk/get-involved/our-campaigns/make-dementia-a-priority
https://www.alzheimers.org.uk/get-involved/our-campaigns
For those interested, more background about the current advert is here:
https://www.alzheimers.org.uk/about-us/dementia-news-and-media/long-goodbye
The 'Long Goodbye' campaign also includes Bill & Jo Wilson’s story via a video and article, where Bill talks about problems in getting a diagnosis and social care issues:
https://www.alzheimers.org.uk/blog/bills-story-someone-dying-dementia-over-and-over-again
In addition, Julie Goodyear (Bet Lynch in Coronation Street) and her husband Scott are supporting the campaign and their story has been covered widely by most of the major news channels and across social media:
https://www.mirror.co.uk/3am/celebrity-news/julie-goodyears-husband-watching-itv-32402558
Details of other Alzheimer’s Society campaigns, and details of how you can sign up to help, are here:
https://www.alzheimers.org.uk/get-involved/our-campaigns/make-dementia-a-priority
https://www.alzheimers.org.uk/get-involved/our-campaigns
At our last Australian federal election, we had a change of government but the vote was well down for both the major parties. There are many more independents and greens elected who do put pressure on the government and tend to be socially progressive. They are very vocal and get plenty of air time on the media.
That only happened because the people were fed up and voted to change things. Being an Australian, I was surprised that a lot of people in UK don’t think it’s worth voting. That would make me a grumpy old curmudgeon too.
I was in London when an election had been called back home and turned up at Australia House to vote. The queue of Australians lined up to vote went down the street and around the corner and was growing. Being overseas, we could have been granted a reason to be excused but thousands of us turned up to vote wherever ever we were in the world.
My husband had never voted in his life until he became an Australian citizen. As we entered the hall for his citizenship ceremony, he had to enrol to go on the electoral roll and now votes along with the rest of us.
When I was living in the UK, there was a knock on the door and the person standing there was checking on people who were eligible to vote. OH wasn’t home at the time so I explained as I wasn’t a British National, it didn’t apply to me. She informed me that as I was a member of the British Commonwealth, I was entitled to vote. I think my face reflected what I thought of that but she assured me that’s how it was and put me on the roll. I voted but hardly any of my work colleagues did.
That situation may have been changed by now as it was a long time ago but personally I was dumbfounded.
That only happened because the people were fed up and voted to change things. Being an Australian, I was surprised that a lot of people in UK don’t think it’s worth voting. That would make me a grumpy old curmudgeon too.
I was in London when an election had been called back home and turned up at Australia House to vote. The queue of Australians lined up to vote went down the street and around the corner and was growing. Being overseas, we could have been granted a reason to be excused but thousands of us turned up to vote wherever ever we were in the world.
My husband had never voted in his life until he became an Australian citizen. As we entered the hall for his citizenship ceremony, he had to enrol to go on the electoral roll and now votes along with the rest of us.
When I was living in the UK, there was a knock on the door and the person standing there was checking on people who were eligible to vote. OH wasn’t home at the time so I explained as I wasn’t a British National, it didn’t apply to me. She informed me that as I was a member of the British Commonwealth, I was entitled to vote. I think my face reflected what I thought of that but she assured me that’s how it was and put me on the roll. I voted but hardly any of my work colleagues did.
That situation may have been changed by now as it was a long time ago but personally I was dumbfounded.
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I like the Alzheimer's Research UK "share the orange" advert as it is factual and not sentimental, but, in my opinion, it needs to end with a request for a donation through their "giving" web page or similar.
Incidentally, 140 grams stated as the average weight of an orange is the weight equivalent to 18 x£1 coins!
I hope the Alzheimer's Society and Alzheimer's Research UK, although separate charities, can work together on this campaign to raise funds. If they can't work together, it will only duplicate costs in trying to get a similar message across to the public, which would be a shame, in my view.
Yes I agree with @Lostinthisdesert
Incidentally, 140 grams stated as the average weight of an orange is the weight equivalent to 18 x£1 coins!
I hope the Alzheimer's Society and Alzheimer's Research UK, although separate charities, can work together on this campaign to raise funds. If they can't work together, it will only duplicate costs in trying to get a similar message across to the public, which would be a shame, in my view.
Yes I agree with @Lostinthisdesert
weve actually got postal votes as i cant get there and its more helpful for him. then i can talk him through the process. our vote has to be in the week before so no good canvassing on the day, weve already voted.
Thanks for the additional links @Louise7. They make it clear that a great deal of thought has gone into the advert and that the overall aim of making dementia a priority requires a shift in both societal and government attitudes. As such, my view is that it goes well beyond being just a fundraising campaign (as others have suggested). It is a difficult subject to talk about and particularly for those directly affected (people who have dementia). But, unless attention is focused on what dementia really means for the person, family and carers and wider society, nothing will change for the better. It will take a sustained campaign and the advert is just one part of that.
It seemed things were going quite well a few short years ago - remember when Boris Johnson met Barbara Windsor in Downing Street? A new dawn was on the horizon.
What does the dementia community really need - more money? A fairer way of paying care home fees?
Obviously a cure or even better drugs to treat it wouldn't go amiss - might have to wait for all those. The country is so much in debt.
What does the dementia community really need - more money? A fairer way of paying care home fees?
Obviously a cure or even better drugs to treat it wouldn't go amiss - might have to wait for all those. The country is so much in debt.
Yes the country is in debt, but its a question of priorities on what the money is spent on. At the moment not enough money is being given to the LA so that care is effectively being rationed and the fees that the LA is willing to pay is too low. This has a huge knock on effect - care homes and care agencies either having to pass the increases onto self-funders or going out of business and the dearth of provision of carers and care homes leading to carer burnout, more hospital admissions for PWD and "bed blocking" because they cannot find either a care home or organise a care package. This must cost much much more than is saved by withholding funding to the LA.
Id also like to see a paradigm change in attitude where the needs of both the PWD and their carer are assessed as one unit to prevent the problem of the PWD effectively vetoing any help which just leads to carer breakdown, or the carer withdrawing support
Hi @canary When you take LA funding in my area of the country (south) it is extraordinarily below the actual cost of care homes. I think the rule should be if you live in that sort of area that the government have to top up LA budget. Central govt take most of the council tax so LA run on empty but it is so ludicrous for LA to say our maximum is £870 a week when in this area there isn't even a basic care home for that money.
As you say bed blocking costs a fortune I don't know exactly how much a daily rate is but it will be eye watering.
Money is often allocated between NHS and social care but NHS swallows it all.
Better consultants for PWD too. My husband had parkinsons dementia for 6 years we never saw the mental health team consultant even at the point my husband was psychotic and I found they always kept his mental health test score below the threshold for dementia so they could keep signing us off.
Journalists wanting to cover social issues are often given guidance on them by interested organisations. It turns out that there is a really good guide for the media about dementia.
In particular this guide suggests avoiding using clichéd negative stereotyping around the issue.
The Alzheimer’s Society should be familiar with these guidelines…..having written them:
In particular this guide suggests avoiding using clichéd negative stereotyping around the issue.
The Alzheimer’s Society should be familiar with these guidelines…..having written them:
Don't worry, @WJG - you'll be OK, it's not all grim like that advert. It's not all smiles of course (what life is?), but there are still smiles and even good days. Get a good care home where the staff are caring and positive or be looked after at home - you and other people challenged by dementia will be fine.
Living well with dementia?
Doing the best with dementia?
Living well with dementia?
Doing the best with dementia?
This is from the very start of the guidance referred to in the link above:
"Dementia is now the UK’s biggest killer: Someone develops dementia in the UK every three minutes and there is currently no cure."
One hears similar statements about heart disease and cancer(s) often - in the media and elsewhere - but dementia is rarely portrayed in such stark terms. The popular view still seems to be that it is about memory loss and getting old. Anyone on this site knows how false that is but getting that message widely accepted is why campaigns are needed.
There is a place for promoting 'living well' but that is not at odds with nor should it exclude talking about all of the challenges that dementia presents for all who are touched by it.
"Dementia is now the UK’s biggest killer: Someone develops dementia in the UK every three minutes and there is currently no cure."
One hears similar statements about heart disease and cancer(s) often - in the media and elsewhere - but dementia is rarely portrayed in such stark terms. The popular view still seems to be that it is about memory loss and getting old. Anyone on this site knows how false that is but getting that message widely accepted is why campaigns are needed.
There is a place for promoting 'living well' but that is not at odds with nor should it exclude talking about all of the challenges that dementia presents for all who are touched by it.
I, for one, completely agree with you, including the hope that my donations go towards research rather than this sort of advert. I have to mute the sound when this advert comes on TV as my husband finds it very distressing. I would have preferred the advert to concentrate on living with Alzheimers rather than dying from it.
I have been thinking really hard about this subject.
Advice, support and care is almost non-existent for people with dementia and their carers. We are hidden and forgotten. Dementia is not "sexy" and the general public are not interested, so its not a vote winner.
I have been thinking about why this might be
1 - there have been many many "reports" on social medial saying about things that can (supposedly) lead to dementia due to lifestyle - smoking, diet, lack of exercise, obesity, not socialising, not wearing glasses or hearing aids, not cleaning your teeth properly, cooking with aluminium and (the latest one) having the wrong gut biomes. All of this sends the message that dementia is a choice and it is your own fault that you have it, so you dont deserve extra support.
2 - there has been a lot of publicity about new drugs that have the potential to help Alzheimers. From what I have read, it doesnt seem to be as clear cut as that, but it has given the impression that dementia can now be cured.
3 - it is perceived as being an old person problem and the elderly are not valued in our society. This was very obvious during covid when there were numerous posts on social media saying words to the effect of - its only old people dying, so why bother with doing anything about it
4 - carers are reluctant to speak out because they dont have the time, but also because many want to protect their person with dementia. They know that the person with dementia will be upset by having the bad stuff highlighted. They may also be triggered by it. So they dont want it "out there"
5 - its good to get the views of people with dementia and have them give first hand experience about what it is like, but unfortunately, (unlike people with cancer or MND) it is only a few who can do this and they are generally in the early stages. They are a precious and wonderful group, but unfortunately very rare. By the time that the challenging behaviour kicks in they are unable to see their own behaviour, the affect that it has on others and they frequently think that they need no help at all.
6 - ten years ago the portrayal of dementia was very negative and it was right to highlight that people in the early stage may still be able to do a lot and there will still be good times. The AS publication (previously linked to upthread) had many good things, especially with regard to language and dignity. Unfortunately, it led to the Living Well With Dementia campaign. This focused on the early stages which are relatively easy and the person with dementia can still live relatively independently. I suspect that it was aimed at people in the early stages who were not diagnosed (and their families) to try and get them to go for early diagnosis. This has largely failed IMO because GPs do not like referring, there are long waiting lists for the memory clinic and also the problem of anosognosia - where the person with dementia is unaware of their own problems and does not believe that they have anything wrong, so will refuse to go to the doctor.
The biggest problem with the Living Well With Dementia is that there was no mention of the later stages. The pictures showed happy, smiley people looking at their carer with love and gratitude. It gave the impression that looking after people with dementia is easy and showed nothing of the challenges - they were all simply swept under the carpet. Yes, people with dementia can live well with dementia, but it takes a lot of support (especially in the later stages) and even then, not all of them can - and some of them are unable to live well from quite an early stage. None of this is mentioned.
There is also nothing mentioned about how difficult it is for the carer. The impression is that having a family member looking after them, or a carer popping in a couple of times a day is perfectly sufficient and what are the family moaning about? That it does not require any additional funding. Many carers have found the Living Well With Dementia campaign insulting and belittling
We need to show all sides.
We have to explain what dementia means and how common it is
We have to show that help, support and funding is necessary for the challenging behaviour, but not make it all doom and gloom
We have to say that, yes, with the right support peoples lives can be improved and they can live well, but it is very challenging to get the right support and will take additional funding
And we have to explain that their carer(s) need support too because it takes a terrible toll on them
Advice, support and care is almost non-existent for people with dementia and their carers. We are hidden and forgotten. Dementia is not "sexy" and the general public are not interested, so its not a vote winner.
I have been thinking about why this might be
1 - there have been many many "reports" on social medial saying about things that can (supposedly) lead to dementia due to lifestyle - smoking, diet, lack of exercise, obesity, not socialising, not wearing glasses or hearing aids, not cleaning your teeth properly, cooking with aluminium and (the latest one) having the wrong gut biomes. All of this sends the message that dementia is a choice and it is your own fault that you have it, so you dont deserve extra support.
2 - there has been a lot of publicity about new drugs that have the potential to help Alzheimers. From what I have read, it doesnt seem to be as clear cut as that, but it has given the impression that dementia can now be cured.
3 - it is perceived as being an old person problem and the elderly are not valued in our society. This was very obvious during covid when there were numerous posts on social media saying words to the effect of - its only old people dying, so why bother with doing anything about it
4 - carers are reluctant to speak out because they dont have the time, but also because many want to protect their person with dementia. They know that the person with dementia will be upset by having the bad stuff highlighted. They may also be triggered by it. So they dont want it "out there"
5 - its good to get the views of people with dementia and have them give first hand experience about what it is like, but unfortunately, (unlike people with cancer or MND) it is only a few who can do this and they are generally in the early stages. They are a precious and wonderful group, but unfortunately very rare. By the time that the challenging behaviour kicks in they are unable to see their own behaviour, the affect that it has on others and they frequently think that they need no help at all.
6 - ten years ago the portrayal of dementia was very negative and it was right to highlight that people in the early stage may still be able to do a lot and there will still be good times. The AS publication (previously linked to upthread) had many good things, especially with regard to language and dignity. Unfortunately, it led to the Living Well With Dementia campaign. This focused on the early stages which are relatively easy and the person with dementia can still live relatively independently. I suspect that it was aimed at people in the early stages who were not diagnosed (and their families) to try and get them to go for early diagnosis. This has largely failed IMO because GPs do not like referring, there are long waiting lists for the memory clinic and also the problem of anosognosia - where the person with dementia is unaware of their own problems and does not believe that they have anything wrong, so will refuse to go to the doctor.
The biggest problem with the Living Well With Dementia is that there was no mention of the later stages. The pictures showed happy, smiley people looking at their carer with love and gratitude. It gave the impression that looking after people with dementia is easy and showed nothing of the challenges - they were all simply swept under the carpet. Yes, people with dementia can live well with dementia, but it takes a lot of support (especially in the later stages) and even then, not all of them can - and some of them are unable to live well from quite an early stage. None of this is mentioned.
There is also nothing mentioned about how difficult it is for the carer. The impression is that having a family member looking after them, or a carer popping in a couple of times a day is perfectly sufficient and what are the family moaning about? That it does not require any additional funding. Many carers have found the Living Well With Dementia campaign insulting and belittling
We need to show all sides.
We have to explain what dementia means and how common it is
We have to show that help, support and funding is necessary for the challenging behaviour, but not make it all doom and gloom
We have to say that, yes, with the right support peoples lives can be improved and they can live well, but it is very challenging to get the right support and will take additional funding
And we have to explain that their carer(s) need support too because it takes a terrible toll on them
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