With an estimated 850,000 people in the UK living with dementia, Toby Perkins MP attended the Alzheimer’s Society’s annual event to speak with campaigners and charity workers helping to spread awareness of the early signs of dementia, and to call for greater Government action on research and support.

Having previously lobbied the government to make good on its promise to spend £160 million more on dementia care, on the back of the event Toby has asked the Department for Health and Social Care about the Government’s provision for Memory Assessment Services in Chesterfield and Derbyshire, especially as Chesterfield’s diagnosis rate trails the national average.

Commenting on the event, Toby Perkins MP stated:

“It was a pleasure to give my continued support to the Alzheimer’s Society, and their work in supporting all those with dementia around the UK.

We must continue to pressure the government and raise awareness about this degenerative disease so that people can be diagnosed and treated earlier.”

He added: “We cannot maintain the current framework- a postcode lottery in which where you live determines how quickly you’re diagnosed. The Government needs to act on the warnings of the Alzheimer’s Society and others now to resolve this issue”.

Kate Lee, Alzheimer’s Society CEO, said:

“One in three people born today will develop dementia in their lifetime. It is a devastating disease, but timely diagnosis is crucial to avoid ending up in crisis – nine in ten people told us they benefitted from their diagnosis, opening the door to treatment, care, and support.

Now is the time for the Government to be bold and ambitious in tackling dementia and to urgently level up dementia diagnosis so that nobody living with the condition slips through the net.”