Only 40 per cent of dementia sufferers diagnosed in Tower Hamlets

By Nadia Sam-Daliri
Tuesday, February 21, 2012
8:46 AM

Only around 40 per cent of people believed to be living with dementia in Tower Hamlets were diagnosed last year, new figures show.

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Diagnosis rates dropped by almost one per cent from the previous year despite an improvement in London as a whole, research by the Alzheimer’s Society revealed.

The charity, based in Saint Katharine’s Way, Wapping, says an increase in diagnosis rates would give more people support to be independent in their own homes, saving taxpayers thousands of pounds in the long term.

Maggie Owolade, London area manager for the Alzheimer’s Society, said: “It’s shocking that well over half of people that are living with dementia still don’t have a diagnosis and so aren’t receiving the support, benefits and the medical treatments that are often available.”

Last year there were 464 people in the borough registered with their GP as having the disease, government data shows.

The Alzheimer’s Society’s own study, Mapping the Dementia Gap, recorded 1,151 sufferers.

Despite the recent findings, dementia is not as big a problem in Tower Hamlets as in other boroughs.

The East End has a relatively young population and, along with Islington and Hammersmith and Fulham, one of the lowest rates of the disease in the capital.