Prior to the general election, then-Shadow Minister for Care, Andrew Gwynne MP, committed a Labour Government to increasing the national dementia diagnosis rate target. Alzheimer’s Society looks forward to working with the UK Government to deliver on this pledge. Alex, from our Policy team, discusses why diagnosis rates need to improve, and why this must be top of the new government's agenda.
Can you direct me to the Wales specific evidence and statistics please.
My father was diagnosed with Alzheimer's in 2012 but no-one thought to tell us until 2017. His memory test score had gone from 80% to 40% in that time. He was given a drug that could slow it down for anything between 6 - 18 months and it did, but for all of us, it would have been so much better if he could have had that pause in his decline in 2012 rather than 2017. They were much better with Mum, it was she who didn't want a diagnosis but she had other factors which had unlocked any benefits she was eligible for, anyway. There is no help, no advice and when you finally get someone willing to give real information rather than just 'signpost' the different bodies give completely different answers to the same question leaving Dementia sufferers and their families even more confused than before. Dementia also stands for Destitution. It looks like the NHS, wanting to save money, picks on the most vunlerable people with the least capacity to fight back. Frankly, it's shameful. Betwen 2012 and December 2023, my parents paid over £1m of their (and our) money on care they were promised would be provided for free (until they actually came to need it). Dementia is a really hard road and adding money worries to that is, frankly, evil.