Farron calls for national dementia strategy

10.00.00am GMT Wed 10th Dec 2008

MP for Westmorland and Lonsdale Tim Farron spoke yesterday at a meeting of the All Party Parliamentary Group on Dementia to back a new Inquiry into the failure to provide adequate training for people working in the care sector who deal with people with dementia. Mr Farron has also demanded a more cohesive national dementia strategy, after figures obtained by the Liberal Democrats revealed that more than 60% of people suffering from dementia remain undiagnosed.

The Alzheimer's Society estimates that there are 575,000 people in England with dementia but only 220,000 of these are known to their GPs - leaving over 355,000 without access to drugs, treatment or other specialist assistance.

Commenting Mr Farron said:

"People with dementia, their families and carers have the right to expect access to services that help them carry on with their lives. They do not deserve to be ignored and dismissed.

"Ministers have been slow enough to acknowledge these problems. There is a risk that urgently-required reform will be sidelined as the economic problems grab all the attention."

"The social care sector is under massive pressure as it struggles to help the hundreds of thousands of people suffering from dementia.

"Instead dementia sufferers and their families are left to cope with little more than patchwork of care initiatives. The Government must work towards a cohesive national dementia strategy by providing better training for health and social care staff so that dementia sufferers are given the best care available."