The charity was promoting its latest campaign to help improve outcomes for dementia sufferers –
Fix Dementia Care– which focusses on understanding the experience of patients in hospitals.
It was also seeking to engage and inform parliamentarians with a new report which uncovered examples of dangerous and inadequate care in hospitals throughout England.
As part of the ongoing initiative the organisation is calling on all hospitals to publish an annual statement on dementia care, which would include statistics on satisfaction levels, number of falls, staffing levels and the quality of assessment.
Having approached hospitals about providing this data, Alzheimer’s society took the opportunity at the parliamentary event to inform MP’s as to whether they had received a response from NHS trusts within their own constituencies, and to urge those in areas where there had been no response to address the hospitals directly.
The event attracted high profile support, with Shadow Foreign Secretary Hilary Benn, Mental Health Minister Alistair Burt, Shadow Home Secretary Andy Burnham and Labour’s former deputy leader Harriet Harman among the attendees.
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Mr Burt told PoliticsHome he was pleased to attend the event saying: “The Government has led the global battle against dementia and is continuing to do so. With every diagnosis, it is essential those faced with the condition and their families receive access to the crucial advice, support and care that will help them to live well with dementia and manage their condition.
"We are aware that more still needs to be done, and that is why under the Prime Minister’s Challenge on Dementia 2020, we will ensure people with dementia and their carers receive meaningful care after diagnosis, including access to information, advice and support.”
Also lending his support was Labour’s Ben Bradshaw who explained to PoliticsHome why the issue of dementia care was so important to him.
He said: “I have always had a close interest in dementia because I lost my mother to early onset dementia when I was a teenager and she was in her fifties and she died at 59 in an age when Alzheimer’s was only just beginning to be recognised and where there was no support.
“My father and I had to nurse her and look after her ourselves with no statutory support whatsoever, so I have long been a supporter of the Alzheimer’s Society.
“I was the first gay politician to get married and I asked people to donate to them rather than give us a present. So, I have a long standing commitment and interest in the area."
Giving his assessment of the quality of care being delivered to dementia patients in hospitals, he continued: “It’s very patchy, it’s far too patchy. Some areas are doing very well, some hospitals are doing very well.
“Training is absolutely key for all hospital professionals, particularly GPs because early diagnosis and treatment… the prognosis can be, and we also have to work flat-out on research for a cure.”
His Labour colleague, Wolverhampton South West MP Rob Marris also responded favourably to Alzheimer’s Society’s campaign and pledged to take up the issue with his local hospital.
He said: “I think it is important that our society supports people who need a bit of tender loving care. Many people with Alzheimer’s need additional support. Some of that support will be to do with difficulties they have.
“Some of that support will be to do with preventing them as much as we can form having difficulties. The NHS needs to do better in this regard.
“I’m in favour of evidence based decision making, which too often in our society is not being done by Governments of all political colours.
“I am disappointed that apparently the local hospital in the area I represent in Wolverhampton hasn’t replied to two letters from Alzheimer’s society seeking basic information and I will be chasing this up so we can put together the evidence.”
Find out more about the report
here.