National Dementia Strategy
1 Apr 2009
Jeremy Wright….Hon. Members will know the numbers, but they are worth repeating. In the UK, 700,000 people have dementia, and that number will double in 30 years. Dementia costs us £17 billion a year, more than the cost of cancer, heart disease and stroke combined, and that sum will treble in 30 years.
Bob Spink (Castle Point) (Ind): The hon. Gentleman is talking about the cost of dementia, and he will be aware that if we are to understand, prevent and treat it, much research is needed. Yet the amount currently spent on research in this country is only about one third per head of that spent in the USA. No doubt he will come to that in his speech. The total amount spent on dementia each year in this country is about the cost of one mile of motorway. That puts the issue into context, and shows that the Government must spend much more on research.
Jeremy Wright: I agree with the hon. Gentleman, and I hope that he listens to that part of my speech when, as he correctly predicts, I come to it a little later. He is absolutely right, and emphasises my point that we simply cannot afford to ignore dementia, yet for years we have effectively done just that.
Bob Spink: The hon. Gentleman mentions those with dementia being full and equal citizens. Does he support, as I do,—this is a rather sensitive issue—tags being used with victims of dementia where their families want to use them to give their loved ones more freedom and longer and better care in the community?
David Taylor: I am grateful for that intervention. Having seen the effect of dementia on constituents’ families and, years ago, on a member of my own family, I think that I would support a limited pilot of something along those lines to check its weaknesses. Superficially, it has some attractions, and I can understand that.
…The NDS, the carers strategy, the long-term care strategy and the end-of-life strategy will all help to address the paucity of qualified support and care for sufferers of what is now almost a ubiquitous disease. However, we need to increase the pace of reform before local services become overwhelmed by the number of people needing the specific form of care and treatment required by dementia sufferers.
We need to go more than the extra mile. In a vivid comparison, the hon. Member for Castle Point (Bob Spink) suggested that the amount of money going into research was the equivalent of building one mile of motorway. On that basis, we need to go several miles along the motorway.
Bob Spink: The hon. Gentleman has reached a particularly moving part of his speech. Will he mention the great love and dedication of the vast majority of those working in care homes who care for those with dementia? Many of them are unsung heroes.
David Taylor: They certainly are.
My final comment is this. Although I have been critical about the quality of care and training, it is not intentional or deliberate cruelty. It is often unintentional neglect by untrained staff that causes problems for the 750,000 of our fellow citizens who are affected.
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