bonnie bonnie bell and i have been
literally best friends for 17 years
i'm sorry
but obviously you know when i spotted
the signs or the
signs of early onset alzheimer's
um the relationship shifted i'm fine
i'm fine you're right now basically i'm
the full-time
unpaid carer which i i'm happy to be i
see it as a
as a privilege somewhere near you
there'll be people like dave and bonnie
a carer and cared for
a husband and wife a daughter a mum a
brother
and sister or as in dave and bonnie best
friends
someone with dementia being helped by
someone without
do you have any family money do you need
family yes i've got a son
have you how old is he what's up he's
um
tough at the best of times and has been
made much worse by lockdown
and the restrictions that go with it so
i lost
everything and she lost everything and
we were kind of
you know locked together but there have
been some moments of
you know well feelings of despair and
they're not typical for me but yeah
that's been real
what does it what does it feel like
getting close to because i think most
people won't know it
they've not never been in that situation
it feels like you're looking down a dark
hole it feels like
whatever you do to make things better
can only make things a little better for
a short period of time and it just
it concentrates the mind on the fact
that this is a losing battle
and it's tough fighting a losing battle
that's how it feels
dave is hardly alone newsnight has
exclusively seen research which lays
bare the extent of the dementia care
problem
across the uk
95 percent of family carers surveyed
said that the extra caring hours they've
had to put in during the pandemic had
impacted upon their physical
or mental health 69 said they'd felt
constantly exhausted
64 felt anxious 49 depressed and perhaps
that's no surprise when you consider
that half said they were putting in more
than 100
hours a week in care and that 83
said that the health of those they care
for had nonetheless deteriorated
during the pandemic
newsnite reported on the extent of the
impact on dementia in the spring when
nearly a third of cover deaths were made
up of those with the disease
at the time the alzheimer's society was
calling for government to put dementia
at the center of its strategy to prevent
it all happening again
as summer turned to winter they don't
believe it's happened
well we know that some issues for people
with dementia such as visiting in care
homes is still not sorted out you know
the testing isn't there we're still
calling on the government to recognize
just one key family member as a kind of
key worker
for each person in residential care with
the testing and pp they need to be able
to offer that
really good quality as an equal partner
in care that's absolutely vital
to people living in care homes which is
still not resolved
you know six months in but we're also
calling on the government
to ensure people who have had social
care support removed
have it returned as soon as possible as
soon as it's safe to do so
which means getting ppe and testing
right for people with domicilia
delivering domiciliary care getting her
out of bed
gordon looks after his wife sue who has
advanced dementia
he himself has cancer it's
brought our life really to a stop it's
difficult
he's dreading further restrictions
should they come
yes it has it um
i you know had no life
my life was just looking after my wife
so you know it's it's very depressing
you can't socialize you can't see
anybody
you can speak on the telephone but it's
not to say
um so it you know it has a profound
effect on me
um but i'm getting i'm going to try and
get over that now get myself back
i've got some time to
socialize and of course the worry now is
that we get locked down again and that
would be very very
difficult
there's no doubt that those with
dementia and those who
care for them have borne a terrible cost
during this pandemic
but as we head into winter it could get
tougher still
in the spring many of the charities
which plugged the gaps left in our
deeply uneven social care
sector were still in reasonably robust
health
today after a year of financial
battering many are closing services
on the brink and therefore those
precious hours
of respite for cared for and carer
alike are in jeopardy the prospect an
experience of being
a carer in the second wave could be even
worse
[Music]
dave at least has his music his live
performances finally resuming
he fears as restrictions return that
they'll disappear along with any limited
help for bonnie which has reappeared
with them
there's much talk of more blanket
restrictions to come
perhaps when they're being made we ought
not to forget and perhaps make
exceptions for
those around us who forget all too often