UK to get first music therapy centre of excellence for people living with dementia
Greater Manchester is to become the UK’s first centre of excellence for music therapy for dementia – in a bid to establish if the treatment can ease pressure on the NHS.
More than £1m of funding has been committed to the project to offer more musical support to people living with dementia across all of Greater Manchester.
There are more than 940,000 people in the UK who have dementia with one in 11 people over-65 being most affected.
The care of people living with dementia in the UK costs more than £34bn each year, with the Alzheimer’s Society saying that by 2040, 1.6 million people in the UK will have dementia.
The long-term goal of the project is to use the knowledge built up over the next three years to analyse how music therapy can reduce the need for health and care services.
Sue Clarke, the Alzheimer’s Society’s regional manager for services in the North West, said: “This is something we’ve got to think about really differently. This keeps people well and at home and this keeps people out of the health and social care system.
“It’s about being part of something that will enable people to stay socially active, stay engaged and for them not to end up going into long-term care which is going to support the social care system.”
The project was launched at a music cafe hosted by Manchester Camerata, which runs weekly Music in Mind sessions at The Monastery in Gorton, Greater Manchester.
Beryl Roczniak and her daughters attend each week. “For people my age, it’s something that keeps you going,” Ms Roczniak said.
(L-R) Irenka Roczniak-Harding, Beryl Roczniak and Sonia Roczniak-Gulzar
Her daughter Irenka Roczniak-Harding said it has been transformative: “You can see how uplifting it is for her, and even to her grandchildren who come now and again.”
Sonia Roczniak-Gulzar, her other daughter, added: “We’ve had some challenging times, over the last 18 months but we’ve managed to keep her out of hospital and she’s coming every week apart from maybe one or two, when she’s been unwell and she misses it.”
Amina Hussain is the principal flute player with Manchester Camerata and also works as the charity’s resident music therapist.
She said: “We have so many magic moments in sessions that are maybe not immediately noticeable to an outside eye, but some of those really subtle changes in someone when you have an interaction with them is just gorgeous.
“It’s one of the most joyous things any of us have ever experienced. It’s really changed how we view music and what it can do for people.”
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Danny Docherty has vascular dementia and attends the sessions with his wife Sue and two carers. Each week he performs the Irish classic Danny Boy accompanied by the pianist and remembers all of the words.
“When you come here you feel more settled,” he said.
Danny Docherty and his wife Sue
His wife Sue added: “I think music is fabulous, it takes a lot of things away and you’re here in this moment. You want to sprinkle something, and it stays there forever.”
Among those committing funding and supporting the project is Mayor of Greater Manchester Andy Burnham who revealed his own music fan father has recently moved into care having been diagnosed with dementia.
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He said: “Greater Manchester is a place that has always understood the power of music.
“I’ve seen first-hand the transformational impact of what they [Manchester Camerata] do in our city region.
“This project will provide life-changing support to people with dementia and their carers in our 10 boroughs. It will also generate groundbreaking research that will influence health and care policy across the country while directly improving lives across Greater Manchester.”
The crash involving a cargo ship and oil tanker off the East Yorkshire coast is bad news for the sea, fish and air in the area. What we don’t know yet is quite how bad it will be.
That depends on a few things – but the speed of the collision, clouds of filthy black smoke from the fires and the leaked fuel are certainly worrying.
Firstly, it matters what was on board those two massive vessels.
Follow live: Jet fuel spilling into sea after tanker collision
Analytics firm Vortexa estimates the 183m-long tanker was carrying about 130,000 barrels of jet fuel (kerosene), which is now leaking into the sea.
Jet fuel is not as sticky or viscous as heavier types of oil, thankfully, so it’s less likely to clog the feathers and fur of birds and seals. It can also be broken down by natural bacteria.
But it can still poison fish and kill animals and plants on the shoreline if it makes its way into the soil there.
The Marine Conservation Society has pointed out the site in the Humber estuary is close to some protected areas and is important for seabirds and harbour porpoises.
And both ships will have been powered by a dirtier, heavier kind of oil – likely marine gas oil or heavy fuel oil, though we don’t know the details yet.
Heavy fuel oil is nasty stuff.
Pic: Bartek Smialek/PA
Cheap, thick and tar-like, it can smother animals and is very dangerous if they consume it, and is extremely difficult to clean up. Let’s hope this isn’t creeping around the North Sea already.
We don’t know how much of either the jet fuel or the oil powering the ships has leaked, or how much will be burned off in the violent fires – which themselves are ploughing black smoke and filthy air pollution into the surrounding atmosphere.
And we don’t know for sure what was on the Solong cargo ship and if, or what, will go into the sea.
Cargo ship ‘had sodium cyanide on board’
It was carrying 15 containers of sodium cyanide among other cargo, according to a report from maritime data provider Lloyd’s List Intelligence.
The container vessel was also transporting an unknown quantity of alcohol, said the casualty report – an assessment of incidents at sea – citing a message from the local coastguard.
Plastic takes hundreds of years to break down, and potentially can choke or trap animals.
Many of us have seen that uncomfortable viral video of a turtle having a straw yanked out of its nose. Previous accidents on cargo ships have seen plastic Lego pieces wash up in Cornwall 25 years later.
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Secondly, the impact depends on the sea and weather conditions around it.
Things like the wind and currents affect how an oil spill spreads in the sea. Scientists can draw up computer models to simulate how the oil could behave.
Thirdly, it matters how quickly this is all tackled and then cleaned up, if necessary, and if it can be.
Usually the slower the response, the worse the impact.
The coastguard has said the incident “remains ongoing” and it has started assessing the “likely counter pollution response” that will be required.
Such a response might need the help of numerous public bodies: the government environment department, the transport department, the Environment Agency and the Maritime and Coastguard Agency.
So for now the best we can hope for – aside from the welfare of the people involved – is that not all the oil is spilled or burnt, that conditions are calm and that rescuers and those cleaning up can work swiftly.
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