Life with dementia laid bare by local experiences at Doncaster Council meeting

Members of the health and social care scrutiny panel heard from Phil Bargh and Wendy Sharps who shared their personal experiences of living with, or caring for someone with, dementia in Doncaster.

Mr Bargh cares for his wife who has been diagnosed with dementia. He told the committee how her condition has changed over the years.

“Her memory this year has not been very good,” he said, “She has become stressed at the littlest things.

“It’s a problem for her, and for me when I come back home. She’s only got myself now.”

Mr Bargh described how his wife had recently lost her driving license as a result, leaving her “distraught”.

He said: “She won’t go on the bus. Other than the ladies she goes shopping with every two weeks, I have to take her everywhere.

“If I go for bread in Sheffield at seven o’clock in the morning, she will say ‘I will come with you’, just so she can get out of the house.”

Mr Bargh is a member of Doncaster’s Dementia Partnership Board (DPB), a collaborative organisation connecting Doncaster Council, local NHS services and local charities with people offering lived experience.

He said: “Transport is a big problem for carers. One of the things that have been mentioned is that a bus would be handy, to wheel us [to appointments] and wheel us back.”

The scrutiny panel heard how a trial will soon be launching with local cancer charity Firefly to offer door-to-door transport between dementia treatment, appointments and home.

Firefly currently offer door-to-door transport for cancer patients in Doncaster, helping them reach treatment and appointments at sites like Weston Park Cancer Hospital in Sheffield.

The panel also heard from Wendy Sharps, who was diagnosed with dementia aged 40 just over 10 years ago.

Ms Sharps co-chairs the DPB with Mr Bargh and brings the perspective of someone living with the disease.

She told the panel of her difficulties getting her diagnosis.

“It took them five years to diagnose me,” she said, “The symptoms started at 35.”

It took many attempts to convince GPs it was not just stress, she told the panel.

Councillors on the panel listened attentively as Ms Sharps shared her personal story.

They heard how crucial home adaptations are for people with dementia, helping them maintain their independence.

Ms Sharps told councillors how she spent 12 months living downstairs in her home, sleeping in a hospital bed. It meant she and her husband slept on different floors.

That was until they secured home adaptations to help her around the house, including a stairlift.

Ms Sharps told the panel how the adaptations “changed her life”, allowing her to reach the shower easier and spend more time with her husband in the evenings.

“It’s little things like that keeping me in my own home,” she said.

The panel also heard of the tremendous work of charities like Crossroads Care Charity and Age UK in supporting the carers of those with dementia, as well as those with the condition.

Dr Nabeel Alsindi told the panel how important the Dementia Strategy was to supporting people in Doncaster.

The report given to councillors ahead of the meeting said the estimated number of people living with the disease would rise by 26 per cent by 2035.