England could learn lessons from the Japanese care model – Alzheimer’s Society comment
On Wednesday 9th May, Nuffield Trust publishes a report arguing that the English social care system can learn from the Japanese model. The authors highlighted the following key learning points:
- Universal access to care, not dependent on where a person lives.
- An easily navigated system
- A long-term commitment to the prevention of loneliness and ill health.
Sally Copley, Director of Policy and Campaigns at Alzheimer’s Society, says: “Our current social care system has been tried, tested and found wanting by the 850,000 people living with dementia in the UK today. While it’s not a case of one size fits all, we should be open to learning from the care systems in other countries in order to meet the varying needs of the people in our system’s care.
“With dementia ranked as the UK’s biggest killer, and one person developing the condition every three minutes, it’s clear we need a social care system that recognises the scale of the dementia challenge, and is equipped to manage; a system which doesn’t lump huge bills on those faced with a dementia diagnosis.”
