“Looking to the Future”, Implications related to the use of restrictive practices for people with learning disabilities and dementia.

NICE (2007) stated that there are approximately 700,000 people in the UK with Dementia. Linked to this is the information provided by the Alzheimer’s Society (2008), who stated that 75% of the population of residential care for older persons in the UK is populated by people with dementia, half of which will present with some form of behavioural problem. People with learning disabilities are growing older, this group have a greater potential to develop dementia’s earlier on in their lives. Astonishingly the likelihood of people with Down syndrome developing dementia increases to 75% when they are over the age of 65, (Rasher, 2005). Older People with learning disabilities are also more likely to develop dementia in their later life when compared to the general population, (Department of Health, 2009), Current service models for people with dementia are typically designed to support older persons with dementia; however they are unlikely to have any specialist knowledge about the needs of a person with a learning disability. Recent evidence has suggested that individuals with learning disabilities who develop early onset dementia are likely to access older people’s service provision.