David Cameron today said that dementia in this country is a ‘national crisis’ and has made it his personal priority to make the UK a world leader in dementia care and research, as part of his  “National Dementia Challenge”, by increasing the research budget to £66 million.

David Cameron said:

“One of the greatest challenges of our time is what I’d call the quiet crisis, one that steals lives and tears at the hearts of families, but that relative to its impact is hardly acknowledged.

“Dementia is simply a terrible disease. And it is a scandal that we as a country haven’t kept pace with it. The level of diagnosis, understanding and awareness of dementia is shockingly low. It is as though we’ve been in collective denial.

“Already a quarter of hospital beds are occupied by someone with dementia. Already the total cost of the disease is around £19 billion – that is higher than the costs of cancer, heart disease or stroke. And in less than ten years, as we all live longer lives, the number of sufferers will reach a million.

“So my argument today is that we’ve got to treat this like the national crisis it is. We need an all-out fight-back against this disease; one that cuts across society.

“We did it with cancer in the 70s. With HIV in the 80s and 90s. We fought the stigma, stepped up to the challenge and made massive in-roads into fighting these killers. Now we’ve got to do the same with dementia.”

The Alzheimer’s Show aim is to determined to put Mr Cameron’s words in to practice and deliver an event that will be informative and assist the individuals whose lives are affected by this disease.

Contact: nward@alzheimersshow.co.uk for more information