Peter Mayer MA FRCP

There are many opportunities to be involved in improving patient services and developing the future in health and social care and research within many countries and this is central policy in the UK. Any locality will have many forums in commissioning primary and secondary care as well as national and local government groups.

Dawne Garrett, Professional Lead - Older People and Dementia Care, Royal College of Nursing.

Voltaire tells us we are all formed of frailty and error. Certainly we all have a picture of frailty, perhaps an old thin, small, stooped and wrinkled lady, slow of step, quiet of voice and without strength.

In terms of the clinical label of frailty this is untrue. Frailty is phenotype; not a normal part of ageing, but a long term condition. If frailty was about age then all older people would be frail and clearly they are not.

As Sue Bourne from the Guardian suggests (04.01.16) the problem is that we’re all a bit scared of loneliness. Of being alone, of being isolated, of not being loved or needed or cared about.
“Lonely” hits a spot of fear in all of us.

So what does it mean to be lonely? Definitions include feeling remote or having no friends or company. However, even those who have friends can feel lonely.
When we feel lonely we miss the deeper connections of companionship.

The Royal College of Psychiatrists (RCP 2011) state that appropriately designed environments for people with dementia have the potential to;

promote independence, reduce the incidence of agitation and challenging behaviour, and the prescription of ant-psychotic medication.

They state that it can also; improve nutrition and dehydration, increase engagement in meaningful activities, encourage greater carer involvement, and improve staff morale, recruitment and retention.