CARE for Lincolnshire's growing number of dementia patients will be less patchy following the publication of the county's first dementia care strategy.

So say health and social care bosses who have been working on the strategy since April with the document, which lays out plans to care for more than 10,000 dementia patients in the county, being published in September.

But staff heading up dementia care at NHS Lincolnshire, Lincolnshire County Council and Lincolnshire Partnership Foundation Trust say they have the added challenge of how to pay for care.

The Government dictates all three organisations are subject to efficiency savings despite the number of dementia patients in Lincolnshire set to rocket to 17,291 by 2025.

The county's dementia care strategy was presented to members of Lincolnshire's health scrutiny committee yesterday.

Allan Kitt, assistant director for mental health at NHS Lincolnshire, told the committee: "We have had serious and challenging discussions and we need to move money where it is of less good use now to where it will have more effect.

"Some of our care is very good, but some not as good as our best.

"A person diagnosed with dementia today needs services to the end of their life, maybe in 20 years' time.

"And we need to plan quite far ahead and have a flexible range of services."

Mr Kitt said diagnosing dementia in its early stages, such as at a routine health check with a GP, was essential in addition to tackling stigma surrounding the condition.

He said: "If you mention the word dementia it is often laden with stigma when you can live very well with dementia."

And Mr Kitt said a proposal to place professionals from both the NHS and social services under one roof could improve the care dementia patients are given.

He said: "People could then walk down a corridor to talk about how to help a family rather than send e-mails or just not talk at all."

Dementia profiles released at the beginning of the year state there are just 3,741 dementia beds in care homes in Lincolnshire.

Yet if current trends continue, the dementia strategy states there could be an extra 4,843 dementia patients resident in care homes by 2025.

Carolyn Kus, assistant director for adult social care at the county council, said: "In Lincolnshire, most of our residential care homes are not registered for people with dementia."

Ms Kus said despite plans to create four specialist care centres in Lincolnshire to accommodate the growing number of dementia patients, many newly-diagnosed people could be cared for at home.

She said: "A lot of people are successfully supported at home until end of life."