"We were able to find an excellent home, but he had to go through hell to find it," actor Kevin Whately says of UK dementia care homes

A new report highlights the extent to which care homes are having to direct their services towards dementia care, with an estimated 80 per cent of residents now having some kind of memory loss.

This is more than ever before and, although on the one hand, the charity is urging the promotion of quality staff training, the Society is also using the study ‘Low Expectations’ to stress the need to change the public perception of care in a home.

The report draws upon a wide range of statistics to show how negative the general population are towards care homes. For example, a YouGov public poll commissioned by the charity found that 70 per cent of people would either be scared or fairly scared if moving into a home, while less than a third of people believe that adults with dementia are well-treated when they get there.

Furthermore, the charity estimates that less than half of those with dementia are achieving what we would consider a good quality of life once in a home, at a time when 19 per cent of UK adults know someone with dementia in residential care.

Chief executive Jeremy calls for joint action from care providers and Government, saying: “When you walk into an excellent care home it’s full of warmth, activities and interaction. But between these best examples and the worst, which often dominate headlines, there is a forgotten scandal of people with dementia who are failed and left living a life that can only be described as ‘OK’.

“Society has such low expectations of care homes that people are settling for average. Throughout our lives we demand the best for ourselves and our children. Why do we expect less for our parents? We need Government and care homes to work together to lift up expectations so people know they have the right to demand the best.”

Actor and ambassador for the charity, Kevin Whately, best known for his role in TV crime dramas ‘Inspector Morse’ and ‘Lewis’ has been inspired to comment on his own experience.

He says: “My mum had dementia and spent the last months of her life in a care home. I’m lucky that when it came to choosing a care home for her we were able to find an excellent home, but we had to go through hell to find it. I’ve seen some amazing examples of care across the country but I’ve also seen places I wouldn’t wish on my worst enemy.

“It shouldn’t be this way. The 800,000 people with dementia in the UK should be able to count on the highest-quality care across the board, wherever they are.”

Karen Weech, 42, whose mother lives in a care home and is diagnosed with dementia, tells her own story, saying: “Our first experience of care was terrible. Without any experience, we didn’t know what to look for and didn’t have anything to compare the home to so our expectations were low.

“Now things are much different. The home mum lives in is fantastic, staff go above and beyond to make her life better. It’s important that people realise that it doesn’t have to be negative or drab and realise that they have the right to expect the best from care homes.”