In a recent Guardian newspaper interview Jeremy Hughes, the head of Alzheimer’s Society, tells Raekha Prasad that GPs shouldn’t be left to tackle dementia alone.

“Dementia is starting from where cancer was around 12 years ago in terms of public awareness and stigma. People are now talking about Alzheimer’s and dementia in a way they didn’t a year ago in the same way people started talking about cancer over a decade ago in a way that previously they wouldn’t,” Hughes says.

Hughes acknowledges that one of the key strengths of the National Dementia Strategy was the emphasis it placed on early diagnosis and the vital role that GPs can play in diagnosing people with dementia. However he is concerned that the government’s plans to reform the NHS are “losing track” of the dementia strategy.

Read more at www.guardian.co.uk/society/2011/may/10/jeremy-hughes-alzheimers-society-taking-the-long-view