1.8 million people with dementia live in Germany. Most of them are supported, cared for and looked after by their relatives. This number is expected to increase significantly in the coming years and decades. However, the German healthcare system is not adequately prepared for this challenge, either medically, in terms of caregiving, or in its social support structures. On 23 February, in the lead-up to the national parliamentary elections, Deutsche Alzheimer Gesellschaft (DAlzG) published 13 political demands addressed to the democratic parties so that they can provide answers to these pressing problems. The DAlzG's demands focus on the following areas:
1. Addressing the increasing number of affected individuals
2. Enabling participation for people with dementia
3. Ensuring access to participation services
4. Guaranteeing timely diagnosis and therapy
5. Expanding the range of non-medicinal therapies
6. Establishing process-based support for people with dementia and their carers
7. Supporting and promoting self-help initiatives
8. Ensuring nationwide availability of qualified nursing and care services
9. Limiting the financial burden of care for those in need
10. Supporting dementia prevention
11. Strengthening the inclusion of dementia-specific content in medical and nursing education
12. Increasing support for research
13. Ensuring the long-term continuation of the national dementia strategy.
Swen Staack, first chairman of DAlzG, says: “The issue of caregiving has hardly featured in the current election campaigns of the parties, even though it concerns many people in our country. The looming insolvency of care insurance funds, caregiving as a risk for poverty, quality problems and a lack of available spots in both inpatient and outpatient care are increasingly burdening people. People with dementia and their relatives find it particularly difficult to access support. We therefore call on all parties to face up to these problems and tackle solutions. The parties elected to the 21st German Bundestag must face up to the enormous task in caregiving in general, and of providing support and care for people with dementia in particular!“