The Prime Minister’s challenge aims to deliver major improvements in dementia care and research by 2015.
The Prime Minister’s challenge on dementia builds on the achievements of the existing National Dementia Strategy.
The Prime Minister has set out his dementia challenge to society, the medical profession, business and Government, alongside the Alzheimer’s Society publishing their report Dementia 2012: A national challenge.
The government will focus on improving the areas that matter most for dementia:
- awareness and dementia-friendly communities
- quality care
- research
The challenge of dementia
According to the Alzheimer’s Society report, three-quarters of people in the UK feel that society is not geared up to deal with dementia. It also found that three in five (61 per cent) people diagnosed with dementia are left feeling lonely, four in five (77 per cent) feel anxious or depressed and nearly half (44 per cent) have lost friends. Seventy-one per cent of people with dementia said they would like their community to understand how to help them live well.
Leadership to tackle the challenge
Champion Groups will be co-chaired by two high profile champions who will bring together leaders from across health and social care, industry and broader society to support the programme of improvements. These include:
- Raising awareness and dementia-friendly communities: Jeremy Hughes, Chief Executive of the Alzheimer’s Society, and Angela Rippon, broadcaster, journalist and presenter
- Improving health and care: Sir Ian Carruthers, Chief Executive of South West Strategic Health Authority, and Sarah Pickup, Director of Health and Community Services at Hertfordshire County Council, and
- Research: Sir Mark Walport, Director of the Wellcome Trust, and Professor Dame Sally Davies, Chief Medical Officer