The key to tackling dementia: the Chancellor must act on early diagnosis

3 min read14 October

Around one million people are currently living with dementia in the UK, including 29,000 across Kent and over 1,200 in my own constituency of Dartford.

Dementia is the UK’s biggest killer and the biggest health and social care challenge of our time, yet over a third of people living with the condition don’t have a diagnosis. This means they’re missing out on the vital care, support and treatment a diagnosis can bring.

My 88-year-old mother received a dementia diagnosis six years ago and with careful management of the condition and the right combination of drugs she still has a high quality of life. But my experience as Cabinet Member for Health and Social Care in London Borough of Lambeth for a decade and a half taught me that this is sadly not true of the great majority of older people with dementia, who are either not diagnosed early enough or who don’t receive the appropriate level of support once dementia is identified. Deterioration can be rapid and comes at huge emotional and financial cost to them, their families and the NHS.

In this autumn’s Budget, we have a key opportunity to push dementia up the political agenda. For too long, the condition just hasn’t received the attention it deserves. Dementia currently costs the UK economy £42 billion a year, a figure which is set to rise to £90 billion by 2040. By investing in dementia now – especially in diagnosis – we could both improve people’s quality of life and generate significant savings in the future.

Jim Dickson and his mother, who is living with dementia

An early and accurate diagnosis of dementia is vital. As well as helping people to plan for their future, live independently in their own home for longer, and maintain quality of life, early diagnosis can help to avoid points of crisis like early or unnecessary admission to a care home or hospital. This could provide substantial savings on long-term care costs.

Despite the fact that one in three people living with dementia in the UK don’t have a diagnosis, just 1.4% of the total healthcare spend on dementia goes towards diagnosis and treatment. Meanwhile, a third of dementia healthcare costs are generated by unplanned hospital admissions. By investing more in early and accurate diagnosis, we could bring down the significant costs associated with these points of crisis.

I know from my engagement with Alzheimer’s Society that there are a number of barriers to getting a dementia diagnosis. But by setting bold, ambitious and achievable new diagnosis rate targets, investing in the workforce and infrastructure needed to ensure early and accurate diagnosis, and ensuring local systems are collaborating and learning from one another’s best practice, we can deliver real change for people living with the condition.

Dementia is not an inevitable part of ageing, but a serious, diagnosable set of neurological diseases. By ensuring more people get an early and accurate diagnosis, we can also increase the number of people accessing existing treatments for dementia, like AChE inhibitors. While not effective for everyone, where they are effective, early diagnosis coupled with these treatments has the potential to generate net cost savings ranging from £8,800 to £44,900 per person.

This is why the Chancellor must invest in dementia, especially diagnosis and treatment, as a matter of urgency. With one in three people born today set to develop dementia in their lifetime, the time to act is now – and the Budget provides a vital opportunity to make dementia a priority.

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