{"id":801,"date":"2015-11-02T08:28:11","date_gmt":"2015-11-02T08:28:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/ebn\/?p=801"},"modified":"2015-11-02T08:30:04","modified_gmt":"2015-11-02T08:30:04","slug":"living-well-with-dementia-in-the-21st-century","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/ebn\/2015\/11\/02\/living-well-with-dementia-in-the-21st-century\/","title":{"rendered":"Living Well With Dementia in the 21st Century"},"content":{"rendered":"

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On Tuesday 3rd November, 8pm – 9pm (GMT), EBN will be co-hosting a very special twitter-chat live from the International Dementia Conference <\/a>taking place in Birmingham, England.\u00a0 Click here for the conference programme<\/a> and follow #dementiacare15 <\/a>for live updates on Tuesday 3rd and Wednesday 4th November.<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u00a0 Our twitter-chat will be around the topic of living well with dementia in the 21st century and be hosted by Professor June Andrews<\/a> and the Dementia Centre<\/a>.<\/strong><\/p>\n

To celebrate this, we are delighted to bring you today’s guest blog from Mark Butler, Director of the Dementia Festival of Ideas<\/a>\u00a0on living well with dementia in the 21st century.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Participating in the Twitter chat requires a Twitter account. If you do not already have one you can create an account at\u00a0Twitter<\/a>.\u00a0 Once you have an account contributing is straightforward \u2013 follow the discussion by searching links to #ebnjc or @EBNursingBMJ<\/a>, or better still, create a tweet (tweets are text messages limited to 140 characters) to @EBNursingBMJ <\/a>and add #ebnjc (the EBN chat hash tag) at the end of your tweet \u2013 this allows everyone taking part to view your tweets.<\/p>\n

For further details on how\u00a0participate in this twitter-chat please click here.<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

\"Mark<\/a><\/p>\n

The issues raised in our International Dementia Conference and the Care Show <\/a>suggest things need to change. Dementia is more visible than it has ever been in the West. This does not mean that the right policies are being pursued or the right thinking is being developed. Nor does this mean resources are going to the things that will make the most positive difference to people\u2019s lives. It is not good enough to say this visibility is inherently a good thing simply because it counters stigma and draws attention. That era is over. We have to address a more complex situation where a lot is happening but these are not really things which will make a difference in any evidence based way. More worryingly many things for which there is sound evidence are not being done. The current focus on dementia might be seen as no more than a sophisticated version of \u201canything is better than nothing\u201d. The world of dementia is crowded with people doing things. There appears to be a lot going on. But what is needed is a type of activism which opens dementia up, pursues difficult questions about efficacy and impact of what is going on and secures a shift in thinking and doing.<\/p>\n

Put simply this activism is about<\/p>\n