Open letter for PM to solve dementia care crisis

New Alzheimer’s Society ambassador Dame Barbara Windsor has launched a public open letter calling on Prime Minister Boris Johnson to solve the dementia care crisis.

Windsor, alongside her husband Scott Mitchell, are now urging the public to join them in signing the letter before its delivery to No.10 Downing Street in early September.

It is expected that one million people in the UK will have dementia by 2021. Yet, despite its prevalence, the system is in disarray, completely unprepared to support the growing numbers of people receiving a dementia diagnosis. Since March 2017 people with dementia have spent more than one million unnecessary days stuck in hospital beds, despite being well enough to go home, at a cost to the NHS of over £400 million.

Since 2016, Alzheimer’s Society’s Fix Dementia Care campaign has been calling on the government to provide a long-term funding solution to end the social care crisis. However, government plans have been delayed and we now need an immediate investment in an NHS Dementia Fund, to address the most urgent needs, improving quality of care for people with dementia across the country.

Jeremy Hughes, chief executive at Alzheimer’s Society, said: “Barbara is a true, much-loved cultural icon, and speaking out about her experiences has shone as a beacon for others with dementia. We’re so proud to have Barbara and Scott join us as Ambassadors. What they have helped us achieve over the last year is astounding.

“That’s why we’re urging Prime Minister Boris Johnson and his government to invest in an NHS Dementia Fund, and to sort out long term social care reform. It’s time to end the dementia tax that‘s preventing people from getting the care they need and deserve.”