Clearing the fog of dementia with song

Music’s ability to trigger our deepest memories and emotions could help improve quality of life for people with dementia

Anyone who’s known a loved one with dementia can testify to its cruelty – the frustration, anger and sadness that comes from watching someone you love slip away.

Dementia, the umbrella term for conditions with a severe decline in mental function, can be an incredibly painful experience, marked by confusion, distress and a profound sense of loss. It’s also increasingly common. Dementia is now the second leading cause of death in Australia.

There is no cure, but researchers, including Professor Felicity Baker, co-director of the University of Melbourne’s National Music Therapy Research Unit, are looking for new ways to help people cope.

Professor Baker studies how music, especially singing and songwriting, can be used to treat people with a range of conditions – from young people with traumatic brain injuries to adults with substance abuse issues. She says music therapy can be a way for people living with dementia  and their carers – to deal with its symptoms.

 “We know that managing dementia with medication actually can make people more confused,” she says. “We need to be creative in finding ways that people with dementia can manage the challenges they face, and to address distressing symptoms such as agitation and depression.”

Professor Baker recently developed a songwriting program for people living with dementia and their carers at Caladenia, a care centre based in Melbourne’s eastern suburbs. Participants worked together in small groups to write and compose songs with a music therapist.

In one 10-week session, participants wrote seven songs. They sang about family, cruise ship holidays and staying out until the sun comes up. They thought about, talked about and even argued about songs they created, from the lyrics to the musical direction.

Even participants who normally struggle with conversation and interaction were able to work together on a music project.

“With music, they’re really engaged in a way that they’re not in other activities,” says Professor Baker. “They’re offering their ideas and perspectives. They’re happy to argue with each other about what they think the lyrics should be and whether the lyric fits the melody.”

But what really struck Professor Baker was that participants remembered the music they created.

“There’s this assumption that people with dementia can’t learn, that they’re just losing memories,” says Professor Baker. “But what we found is that they were actually remembering lyrics from week to week.”

Professor Baker’s findings will be used to inform her next project, a large-scale study funded by a grant from the National Health and Medical Research Council. She hopes to find out more about how collaborative music therapy, such as group music therapy or choir groups, might affect the cognitive function, depression, neurological symptoms and quality of life of people with the condition.

The project will include a major randomised control trial, comparing standard dementia care practices with three music-based interventions – group music therapy, larger choir groups and a combination of both.

There’s no doubt that music is a huge part of our lives. The simple act of listening to a song can evoke memories and emotions of heartbreak, love affairs, places or people in our past. And scientists, too, have long known that music has a powerful effect on brain function.

Unlike other stimulants, Professor Baker says, music engages all parts of our brain.

“When we engage in some activities, specific neural networks are activated. But when we listen to music, we actually engage quite a distributed network of neuronal activity.”

Studies have also shown that the act of creating music – songwriting, singing or playing an instrument – is more effective in stimulating our brain than just listening to music. In other words, it’s more stimulating to write and sing a song than listen to your favourite album.

“When we sing, we’re stimulating our auditory system, we’re stimulating our physical system,” she says. “When we use language in song, it’s tapping into our emotions and it’s tapping into physiological processes like our heart rate and our breathing.”

Since music is an emotional and physical stimulant, Professor Baker wants to see how much it can trigger memory function for people living with dementia.

“The theory is that pairing music and lyrics with an emotional experience can reach the threshold for memory,” she says. “It connects people and helps them to remember.”

A 2009 study by the University of California, Davis, for example, found that the area of the brain that holds our memories and links music to emotions is also the last part of the brain to atrophy during Alzheimer’s disease, the most common form of dementia.

Professor Baker’s research project is the Australian arm of a much larger study into the effects of music therapy on people living with dementia. Work in Australia will involve 500 participants, but academic colleagues in Norway are leading similar and even larger initiatives.

“It’s going to be the biggest music therapy study in dementia care ever and it’s certainly a game-changer for the dementia field,” she says.

Previous literary reviews about the effects of music therapy have been promising but inconclusive, citing the need for larger studies and more evidence.

“Worldwide, we have amassed a lot of small scale studies that show it’s effective but nothing big that will help us be taken more seriously when healthcare policies are being made.”

The NHMRC grant used to fund Professor Baker’s research is part of the Boosting Dementia Research Initiative, which gives $200 million to dementia research projects, including several other studies based at the University of Melbourne. Nearly 1 million Australians are expected to have dementia by 2050, and health policymakers are wondering how the system will deal with it.

“Dementia is going to be a challenge for this country,” says Professor Baker. “And they want to invest extra funding into projects that will help us with this massive problem that’s ahead of us.”

SOURCE: Kate Stanton, University of Melbourne

With studies and research already proving the benefits of such initiatives, how great would it be if this was properly funded? Considering we know that dementia is going to be an increasing challenge for all in the future isnt it time these projects were given greater importance?

Doctors failing to diagnose one in three dementia cases: GPs take average of three years to pick up illness

GPs take an average of three years to diagnose the disease in patients 

Doctors are failing to detect dementia in hundreds of thousands of patients, a major study has found.

It suggests a third of those affected by the illness do not realise it because they have not been given a formal diagnosis.

The Cambridge-led research, the first of its kind, found even those who were eventually diagnosed had to live with the disease for an average of three years before it was finally detected by GPs.

Those who were eventually diagnosed had to live with the disease for an average of three years before it was finally detected by GPs.

The Cambridge-led research, the first of its kind, found even those who were eventually diagnosed had to live with the disease for an average of three years before it was finally detected by GPs

Many suffer from dementia for more than six years before it is picked up – while others die without finding out.

The research will raise serious questions over the Government’s dementia strategy. Ministers have pledged to make the UK a world leader in tackling the condition.

A major study earlier this month said dementia was one of the reasons that life expectancy had stalled for the first time in 100 years.

The Alzheimer’s Society says early diagnosis is vital. But researchers behind today’s study believe some GPs think telling patients and families will only cause anxiety, as there is no cure for dementia.

Another reason is that many sufferers live alone, meaning no one notices if they become more forgetful, confused or start behaving differently.

Others are worried about the stigma of dementia and fear losing friends, their independence and their driving licence.

A major study earlier this month said dementia was one of the reasons that life expectancy had stalled for the first time in 100 years

The research by Cambridge, East Anglia and Newcastle universities, which is still ongoing, hopes to provide one of the most accurate pictures of dementia diagnosis rates to date. 

It involves 7,796 over-65s in England who were interviewed between 2011 and 2013 for two to three hours. Results were then analysed to see which patients had dementia.

Controversially, the researchers did not tell patients if they tested positively. Instead, they waited to see how much time elapsed before the disease was diagnosed by family doctors.

Earlier this year the researchers contacted the GPs of 458 patients they had identified as having dementia. 

The nine risk factors 

Nine risk factors including obesity, smoking and high blood pressure have been blamed for dementia in one in three cases.

A report last week was the first time scientists have been able to show how much of the disease is preventable. They warned the public should not see dementia as ‘an inevitable part of ageing’ but take responsibility for reducing their own risk.

In the journal The Lancet, senior experts recommended a major crackdown on high blood pressure which could help prevent one in 50 dementia cases. Ensuring universal education to age 15 would cut the number of dementia cases by 8 per cent, the report added.

In middle age, treating hearing loss would have the biggest impact, cutting cases by 9 per cent. Stopping smoking in over-65s would stop 5 per cent of cases and treating depression would prevent 4 per cent.

Even a 1 per cent reduction in dementia cases would mean that 8,500 fewer Britons suffer from the disease. 

They found more than a third – some 37 per cent – had yet to be given a formal diagnosis by the GP. 

There was not even any mention of symptoms in their notes. Of the patients who had been diagnosed, there was an average delay of three years between researchers identifying the illness and GPs picking it up. 

The researchers calculated a fifth of dementia patients wait six years or more for a diagnosis. Another fifth die before being told they have the disease.

These early results were presented at the world’s largest Alzheimer’s conference in Docklands, east London, last week.

The full research will be presented at the end of the year.

Dr George Savva, lead author from East Anglia University, said: ‘Many of these people have been living with dementia for six years without diagnosis.

‘Doctors thought there’s no point in diagnosing because there’s nothing we can do.

‘We don’t have a lot of evidence as to whether diagnosis helps and the broad consensus is that many people don’t really want to know. But there are drugs that can certainly help some people for some time, although not everybody and not much.’ 

Dr James Pickett, of the Alzheimer’s Society, which is funding the study, said: ‘We know people who get a diagnosis can get access to drugs, help and support, they can plan for their future and they can avoid reaching a crisis point.’

East Anglia researcher Clare Aldus said diagnosis ‘helps them understand what is going wrong – a diagnosis can bring some relief’.

Separate figures last week suggested approximately one million Britons are living with dementia. This number is expected to double by 2051 due to the ageing population and obesity, which raises the risk.

Ministers have pledged to improve dementia care since Labour issued a National Dementia Strategy in 2009 and former prime minister David Cameron launched the Dementia Challenge in 2012.

GPs were urged to improve diagnosis rates and hospital doctors had training to better detect the illness. In 2014, the NHS paid GPs an extra £55 for every new dementia case they recorded. The scheme was scrapped the next year.

A Department of Health spokesman said it is investing £50million to make hospitals dementia-friendly and £150million to develop a national Dementia Research Institute.

An NHS England spokesman said the number of people with a formal diagnosis has ‘dramatically increased … with approximately 150,000 more people able to access early support’.

SOURCE: MailOnline, Rosie Taylor and Sophie Borland

It seems the Alzheimers Society spokesperson has the right idea, that early diagnosis offers access to drugs and future planning that may avoid sufferers reaching crisis point.

EVEN TIDYING THE HOUSE CAN HELP

Practise Yoga

Studies show yoga lowers the stress hormone cortisol and helps ease depression, anxiety and create an overall sense of wellbeing. Experiment with different teachers and different types of yoga to find a class that suits your personality and your desired level of exercise and mental relaxation. Some classic yoga postures which are effective for stress relief include child’s pose, spinal twists, gentle hip openers, cat/cow pose, legs-up-the-wall and corpse pose.

Listen to music

One of the best ways to unwind, listening to music helps combat stress and lower cortisol levels. One recent study found that individuals who listened to music had lower blood pressure and experienced less stress than people with a great diet and who took regular exercise. Try to fill your day with music as much as possible, and use it at night to relax before sleep.

Tidying up

When your surroundings are chaotic it’s very easy to become distracted, stressed and anxious, even if you don’t realise it, and then focusing can be more difficult. But a clean, orderly space creates a sense of calm, making it easier to focus. By getting rid of clutter in your living room, for instance, you find you have room for an exercise bike, a yoga mat or a set of dumbbells to make regular exercise easier to sustain.

Share a hug 

Close contact with friends and loved ones naturally helps reduce stress levels. Studies have found that oxytocin, a hormone associated with decreased stress response, is released when you are being hugged, or when someone holds your hand.

Find your Ikigai

The Japanese concept of ‘having a purpose’ has been shown to lead to a longer, healthier life as well as reduced disability and mortality. Studies show keeping a strong sense of purpose after retirement and into old age protects both your mental and physical health. So consider volunteering or engaging in community service of some sort.

As we investigated further, we started to think of meditation as an antidote to modern distraction. If it could help us focus, we thought, it could also help us reduce stress, especially in the brain.

Meditation isn’t ‘doing nothing’. It’s not a passive activity. Done properly, it is all about cultivating concentration and focus, a fantastically powerful antidote to dementia as it happens in the very brain regions which are often the first to be affected by Alzheimer’s.

We are now convinced that including meditation or mindfulness of some sort in your daily routine can dramatically reduce the effects of uncontrolled stress and even expand important —and very useful — areas in the brain.

And you can rest assured that enjoying the benefits of meditation will not mean joining an Ashram or compulsory cross-legged sitting. Yes, it can mean chanting if you wish, but it can also simply be sitting quietly, walking around your neighbourhood or having a comfortable de-cluttered space you can go to that helps you unwind at the end of the day.

If you want to give it a go, find a quiet place where you won’t be disturbed for ten minutes.

Sit down, close your eyes and try to clear your mind, focusing only on the breath going in and out of your nose.

Every time your mind starts to wander, bring your focus back to your breath.

Don’t be discouraged if you find it hard — with practice you’ll see amazing benefits.

Even doing something you love — that puts you in a ‘zone’ (it could be knitting or washing up, cleaning your shoes or day-dreaming) where you simply experience the activity rather than think too much about it — can have enough of a meditative effect to provide huge mental benefits for both focus and stress management.

Ultimately, the best relaxation techniques for you are ones that interest you and bring you a sense of calm. Everyone responds differently.

But don’t think you’re too busy, or that unwinding isn’t important. Pick something from the suggestions in the boxes. Whatever method you choose should be simple, convenient for you and, most importantly, relaxing.

Medicine works best when it's PERSONAL

Although there is no cure for Alzheimer’s, our work as specialists in the very cutting-edge of this field has convinced us that you really can protect yourself and dramatically reduce your risk.

The key, we have found, is creating a personalised plan which ensures you eat a brain-boosting diet, keep active, sleep well, avoid stress, and challenge your brain — and crucially, that you then stick with these simple changes for life.

Our infinite differences profoundly impact the way medical treatments affect us, and also how effective they are

Conventional medicine’s approach has typically been to treat us as though we’re all the same, to assume somehow that one nutrient, drug or behaviour will fit all.

But now we know that our infinite differences profoundly impact the way medical treatments affect us, and also how effective they are.

Personalisation is becoming increasingly important in many areas of medicine.

This model of medical care effectively customises treatments based on individual differences in genes, proteins and environment.

STRESS MYTHS BUSTED 

Stress is most damaging to your heart: Stress damages the entire body, but the brain is especially susceptible, even more so than the heart.

You have to sit in a yoga pose when you’re meditating: You can meditate while standing, lying down or even while walking. A gentle walking meditation can be a great choice for some elderly people who aren’t comfortable sitting for too long or who find that sitting makes them tired or stiff.

You have to meditate for long periods of time to experience any benefits: Any amount of meditation or mindfulness is helpful. Even a few three-minute sessions per day are likely to reduce stress and support your brain. 

It is now emerging as the new medical paradigm for chronic disease as doctors and researchers move towards greater precision in disease treatment and prevention that takes into account an individual’s genes, environment, chronic wear- and-tear, protective factors and lifestyle.

Dementia is not a one-size-fits-all condition and we are convinced that in the future, Alzheimer’s prevention based on these individual differences will become the standard of care.

Up until now, personalised medicine has been used most successfully in the treatment of diabetes, obesity, and heart disease, where doctors have looked at the unique genetic and chemical constituents of an individual’s disease, and have suggested lifestyle changes that take into consideration the individual’s history, resources, limitations, and proclivities.

This comprehensive approach is bringing to light what we discovered years ago: chronic disease, especially neuro-degenerative disease, is highly complex and highly personal, and if given the right tools, people can change their lives and influence their health.

That’s why the approach we share in our book, The Alzheimer’s Solution, on which this series is based, is personalised medicine for the brain.

Ours is a ground-breaking model for how to understand, prevent, and treat Alzheimer’s on a personalised level. Whatever your degree of risk, no one is expecting you to make wholesale changes, but through adopting a personalised approach to your stress levels and the methods you might be able to incorporate to help mitigate them, as well as your diet and activity levels, you will be able to start moving in the right direction.

Just instituting one or two changes at a time, based on your individual resources and capacity for change is all it takes.

OVERCOMING OBSTACLES

AND RELAX... 

Starting at the top of your body and moving downwards, begin to tense up all your muscles — your forehead, eyes, jaw, neck, shoulders, back, arms, hands, abdomen, buttocks, thighs, calves and feet.

Hold this tension for at least five seconds. Then take a big inhalation, and on your exhalation release everything. Take a few more deep breaths. Feel the difference between a tensed body and a relaxed body. 

‘I’m too stressed!’: Even a three-minute-per-day meditation can significantly relieve stress.

Try not to think of mindfulness activities as a burden, but rather as a solution to the unpleasant stress you feel right now.

‘I don’t have anyone to do this with’: While it can be relaxing to meditate on your own, and in your own space, you can also join a group or class at a community centre, or find a meditation community online.

‘Impossible! I’m hyperactive!’: Not everyone has to meditate the same way or for long periods of time. Three-minute sessions are helpful for people who find it difficult to relax. Try several of these sessions per day, and gradually increase the time as you become more comfortable.

SOURCE: MailOnline, Dr Dean Sherzai and Dr Ayesha Sherzai

Dementia time bomb no longer just ticking

Diagnosis of dementia and Alzheimer's is on the rise, with serious consequence for health and social care budgets, but sufficient resource also has to be allocated to research that could lead to an effective treatment. 

We have known for long enough that Alzheimer’s disease, and dementia, will represent the greatest challenge to the health service in the future. It is accepted that these conditions will become this country’s biggest killer as the population ages, ahead of cancer. But did we imagine that the number of deaths caused by Alzheimer’s disease would triple in Scotland in a year? It’s a startling statistic, and although a change in the recording of deaths will have contributed partly to the rise, this factor alone is unlikely to be responsible for a 33.4 per cent rise in the number of Alzheimer’s deaths from March to June this year, compared to the same period last year.

If the disease was previously known as a demographic time bomb, perhaps that description is already out of date. There is consolation to be taken from this story as well, however. Deaths caused by Alzheimer’s indicate diagnosis was achieved – which has not always been the case, with diagnosis often delayed until confirmed at death in previous years – and with diagnosis should have come the support that each person required during his or her struggle. For the Scottish Government, increased diagnosis means increased support costs and increased pressure on already stretched resources. But there is no choice in this matter. Dementia will prove to be a heavy drain on social care and health budgets, and we have to prepare for the incidence of these conditions rising. 

The Scottish Government has been committed to free personal care, and this month announced its intention to extend that level of care to those under 65 with degenerative conditions, by 2019. If we continue to see exponential growth of dementia, is this level of commitment sustainable? Will an adjustment be required? Forecasts will have to be revised. Alzheimer’s Research UK has responded to the increased death rate with a call for greater funding for research, highlighting its goal of developing a “life-changing treatment for dementia by 2025”. 

At present, it would seem optimistic to believe a treatment will be available within eight years. But the call for increased funding should be heard. In the battle that lies ahead, there will be a temptation to focus on how we care for those affected. We cannot lose sight of the need to explore a way of controlling this appalling illness which, sooner or later, will touch every family.

SOURCE:The Scotsman

Early diagnosis and earlier treatment for sufferers is key but without adequate resources this is going to be difficult to achieve. As always extra funding is essential. The drain on social care and health budgets is already immense.

These seven steps will keep your brain healthy from childhood to old age, say researchers

LIVING A HEALTHY lifestyle could help your brain as much as the rest of your body, according to a new advisory from the American Heart Association (AHA).

Taking care of our bodies in the right way could also lessen the risk of cognitive decline – which can lead to diseases such as Alzheimer’s and dementia – in later years, researchers said.

Vascular neurologist Philip Gorelick said: “Research summarised in this advisory convincingly demonstrates that the same risk factors that cause atherosclerosis [a hardening of the arteries that can cause stroke or heart attack], are also major contributors to late-life cognitive impairment and Alzheimer’s disease.”

In order to ensure that our brain stays healthy into old age, the AHA recommends following its Life’s Simple 7. This is a set of health factors designed to make our bodies, particularly our heart, in good condition throughout our lives.

They are:

·         Manage blood pressure

·         Control cholesterol

·         Keep blood sugar normal

·         Get physically active

·         Eat a healthy diet

·         Lose extra weight

·         Don’t start smoking or quit

And what exactly is a healthy brain? The researchers define it as “one that can pay attention, recognise information from our senses, learn and remember, communicate, solve problems and make decisions, support mobility and regulate emotions”.

Previously, experts had not linked the problems that cause Alzheimer’s with stroke but now believe that they are related.

Gorelick said that elevations of blood pressure, cholesterol and blood sugar can cause impairment of large and smaller blood vessels, “launching a cascade of complications that reduce brain blood flow”.

Gorelick said: “At some point in our lives, a ‘switch’ may be getting ready to ‘flip’, or activate, that sets us in a future direction whereby we become at-risk for cognitive impairment and dementia.”

In Ireland, over 50,000 people live with some form of dementia. According to research from NUI Galway, that number could more than double to 132,000 by 2041.

According to the government’s national dementia strategy, the average annual cost of care per person with dementia in Ireland is €40,500.

It added: “The value of informal care for those with dementia is estimated to be €807 million per annum.”

The American researchers hope that their advisory will help to inform how doctors and physicians treat brain health by linking it to these important lifestyle factors. They added that it could also be a starting point to build a broader definition of brain health.

Gorelick said that monitoring rates of dementia in places where public health efforts are improving the health of people’s heart “could provide important information about the success of such an approach and the future need for healthcare resources for the elderly”.

SOURCE: The Journal

Definitely worth bearing these points in mind, not just in relation to dementia but in our general health and well being longterm.

Four in ten care homes are not fit for purpose: At least 70,000 vulnerable people at risk as families tell how relatives were grabbed by the throat, thrown on beds and sworn at by carers

Social care is in such crisis that four in ten homes fail inspections.

Watchdogs have reported on 5,300 care homes this year and 2,000 were found inadequate or in need of improvement.

It means 70,000 vulnerable residents and patients are at risk.

Inspectors found elderly who were left filthy and starving. Others were locked in their bedrooms with no natural light. 

Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt (pictured) said that he expects 'significant improvements where care is below expectations 

Many were given the wrong medication. Despite the litany of failings, the Care Quality Commission has successfully prosecuted just five homes over the past two years. The Daily Mail's audit of reports published by the watchdog reveals that:

• 38 per cent of care homes failed inspections this year;

• More than half of those run by big firms including Bupa were said to be failing;

• At least 9,000 vulnerable people are in homes that do not meet basic safety standards;

• Police investigated a home where an elderly resident allegedly choked to death and another where a resident was left alone while having a seizure.

Responding to the findings, Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt said last night: 'Any instance of care falling short is one too many. We expect significant improvements where care is below expectations.'

Since October 2014, the CQC has inspected adult social care services using an Ofsted-style system. Homes are rated as outstanding, good, requiring improvement or inadequate.

Inspectors found elderly who were left filthy and starving, while some were locked in their bedrooms (stock photo)

Of 5,361 reports published this year, 38 per cent received the worst two ratings. Just 86 homes were outstanding. Another 262 were rated inadequate – leaving 9,000 residents with no guarantee of being protected from harm.

The Mail's findings suggest the crisis in care homes is far more severe than previously thought. Last month the CQC published a major report, which suggested that out of 14,900 care homes 22.5 per cent were failing. However, the figures related to reports since October 2014 – rather than being broken down by year.

The Mail's findings suggest particular concerns with major private providers. Four Seasons Health Care, which houses 20,000 mostly elderly residents in 265 homes, promises that residents will be treated with 'courtesy and dignity'.

But out of 107 reports into its homes published this year, 54 were rated as failing. Bupa Care Services – the second largest private provider with 244 homes – says it has a 'person-centred approach'. Yet 45 of 90 of its homes reported on this year were found to be inadequate or requiring improvement.

The failure rate at HC-ONE, which has 230 homes, was 55 per cent.

Dr Hilda Hayo of the charity Dementia UK said: 'The news that so many care homes are failing in their duty to provide good quality care is disturbing.'

Four Seasons Health Care said if the previous year's figures were included, 64 per cent of its homes were rated as good.

The Care Quality Commission has successfully prosecuted just five care homes in the past two years.

Despite the huge number of homes failing inspections, the vast majority are given repeated warnings.

Some of the worst have been in special measures for more than a year but have been allowed to keep running. If a care home does not meet basic safety requirements, it is given an overall inadequate rating. There are currently 535 across the country.

In the most severe cases, where residents are deemed to be at immediate risk, the CQC can force the homes to shut down and residents are moved out.

Inadequate homes that are not closed are immediately put into special measures, which means they are on warning to improve urgently.

Within six months inspectors will visit again. In the meantime, the CQC can use enforcement powers to make improvements. It can fine providers or stop them taking new residents.

The five homes prosecuted successfully by the CQC in the past two years incurred fines of up to £190,000.

Homes are taken out of special measures only when their overall inadequate rating improves.

If real improvement is not shown, the watchdog can then move to shut the home down.

Of the 916 adult care services that have had a first rating of inadequate, almost a third have shut down.

In some cases the provider will choose to close before being forced to stop running. The CQC would not say how many homes it has actively forced to close.

Over two years 1,605 different types of enforcement action were taken.

...

A spokesman rejected the idea that the CQC verdict of 'requires improvement' meant a home was failing.

A Bupa spokesman said the reports published this year did not reflect the company's overall performance.

Joan Elliott of Bupa Care Services said: 'We're proud of the care our staff provide and that the CQC has rated the majority of our homes as good or outstanding.'

An HC-ONE spokesman said: 'We have worked hard with our teams, from turnaround to transformation, to improve care standards and the quality of life for residents.'

Andrea Sutcliffe, chief inspector of adult social care at the CQC, said: 'While the majority of services are good and we are seeing improvements, we have made it clear that there is too much poor care.

'This has got to change. We are playing our part by driving improvement and holding providers to account to put a stop to poor care.'

On Saturday, Theresa May's former joint chief-of-staff said she must urgently reform social care to avoid defeat to Labour at the next election. Nick Timothy urged the Prime Minister to set up a royal commission. 

SOURCE: MailOnline, Sara Smyth

Two knee operations can’t stop care home resident Vanda Norgate from cycling 21 miles for MS Awareness Trust

A nursing home resident who has undergone two knee operations cycled 21 miles on a static machine during a fund-raising week.

Residents and staff at Meadow House nursing home in Swaffham took part in challenges to raise awareness of multiple sclerosis and funds for the MS Awareness Trust.

Staff arranged activities for residents, their relatives and day centre service users.

They ran bingo games, held a raffle, sang karaoke and held a coffee morning. The main challenge was a static bike ride.

Between them, the residents and service users, many of whom live with severe physical challenges, cycled 102 miles.

Resident Vanda Norgate, who has recently had two knee operations, cycled 21 miles.

In total, £500 was raised.

SOURCE: Eastern Daily Press, Adam Lazzari

Isnt this great? Getting together socially and to raise funds for a good cause, what a team effort!