Prison service insists it could cope with epidemic of dementia

Published on Tuesday 5 August 2008 00:47

THE Scottish Prison Service has insisted it has the right facilities in place to tackle a vast majority of medical conditions – including mental-health illnesses such as dementia.

An SPS spokesman said: "We do definitely have prisoners with dementia, although it's not possible to say exactly how many. We have people in our prisons with all manner of medical conditions. The only exceptions would be those people with terminal illness, who have a few months to live that are better suited to hospital treatment." But Bill Aitken, the Scottish Conservative justice spokesman, said that in this case normal sentencing guidelines could not be applied.

"There are a lot of dementia sufferers who are not violent, and there may be questions about how to deal with this individual if he does not adhere to his restriction of liberty order," he said.

"The key thing in this particular case is that the judge has seen all the relevant medical reports. I am satisfied that the normal sentencing considerations could not be applied."

Campaigners have warned that health and social services could be overwhelmed by the vast numbers of people with dementia. Up to 65,000 people in Scotland are thought to have dementia, but it is estimated that the number of people affected will rise by 75 per cent by 2031 as the elderly population increases.

There have also been concerns in the past year that dementia patients could be denied drugs to slow down their progression because of a move by NHS rationing watchdogs. Alzheimer Scotland, a leading campaign group, has called for an additional 150 million to tackle what it has described as the dementia epidemic.

Although dementia often begins with increasing forgetfulness, a sufferer will increasingly require assistance with everyday activities, such as dressing and going to the toilet.

By the end of their life, dementia sufferers will probably be living in a care home, nursing home or hospital.