Well it’s nearly the end of the year and I was excited to write this Blog as, after running Pathways for 13 years ,this year we finally reached a point where I could afford to leave Citizens Advice and dedicate more time to enquiries, networking and fundraising for the charity. This is due to National Lottery funding and a generous retainer from Dementia UK whose Admiral Nurses we gratefully work in partnership with. Whilst I still have a side hustle in the form of my couples therapy business I am more flexible with my time and this has been a huge relief and achievement.

We continue to see helpline calls and emails increase – in August we took over 100 enquiries in one month which is a record. I put this down to the immense pressure that people living with dementia are experiencing now as local authority budgets shrink and social workers are often too stretched to undertake all the tasks the Care Act dictates that they perform. Waiting lists for care needs assessments, discharge meetings, and local services are so long carers are becoming burnt out in the meantime and rightly seeking to educate themselves on what they ought to expect from social care.

Sadly the charity that I worked for in Ealing (Dementia Concern Ealing) in 2003, which has been supporting our client group for over 40 years, closed recently, the pilot for the Admiral Nurse in our borough did not yield a long term post and even the Directory of Social Change has closed its doors due to lack of funding. Andy Burnham would do well to look into financing local services as a starting point rather than tackling the cost of care homes (in my view) which is unfortunately a non starter from a fiscal perspective as more and more people develop dementia.

But we continue to do what we can in our corner: the addition of Angeline to our team has been a great asset – a law graduate and qualified CAB Advisor she has quickly learnt the core principles of the Mental Capacity Act and the Care Act and is answering as many emails as her time allows each week.

I have spoken at the Life After Diagnosis group in West London, at the Hampton Wick Dementia Day in Hampton, and at the Full of Life Fair Twickenham. I also delivered training to around 180 Admiral Nurses and continue our close relationship which is a real pleasure, taking many calls from people who have encountered them at Nationwide Banks where they hold surgeries regularly (well done Nationwide!)

Oh and we got a dog! Someone once said ‘Life is hard. Get a dog. Make it harder’ and they were right… but she has brought us a lot of joy and visits the care home where my Mum lives every so often where all the residents and staff make a fuss of her!

As we head into the festive season I want to thank in particular all the people who have donated to Pathways and left us encouraging comments on our fundraising page – it really keeps me going to know that we make a difference even if we can’t solve all the problems within the system. However you celebrate the holidays have fun and take care of yourselves.

Best wishes, Sara, Angeline and Trustees (Kim, Tina, Radhika and Tiffany).