An important reminder from James about the importance of diagnosis.

Good afternoon, this is James annoying you again. I never lose sight of the fact that you’re doing this voluntarily to help others.

One thing that struck me, and it’s not just people with dementia. Some people with dementia are still working, some are still driving, and on their return to work or to driving, they could be rusty. So I would hope employers would take note that people will be slower than that. They won’t hit the ground running and you’ll get full production on day one. Maybe even having a refresher course, or even the first couple of days, having short days to get people back into the way of working.

One thing that worries me is, dementia never took a holiday. People are still developing it, having problems, and going to the doctor to find out what’s wrong. I don’t really feel you should go to the doctor for a diagnosis of dementia. I feel they should go for what’s troubling them. It may be dementia, it may not. Hopefully it’s not, and it’s another condition that can be treated. So, but an awful lot of people out there have developed dementia, they haven’t been tested, and goodness knows what sort of jobs they’re doing. So, again I would advise employers to look out for subtle changes in employees’ behaviour and that, so that if somebody has developed dementia, they’ll still be able to do their job safely.

Good night.