MP Ian Liddell-Grainger is supporting campaigners’ calls for urgent action to improve dementia diagnosis.
He says it is unacceptable that of the million Britons thought to be living with the condition a third have not been diagnosed.
And he has joined other MPs In calling for more Government investment in measures to improve diagnosis rates to enable sufferers access to care and support and to plan for the future.
Mr Liddell-Grainger said the issue was a particularly relevant one in his Bridgwater and West Somerset constituency which had a high proportion of elderly residents.
And he said it was concerning that during Dementia Action Week the Alzheimer’s Society had revealed wide regional discrepancies in diagnosis rates.
“Everyone living with dementia deserves an early diagnosis and to know what type they have, to allow them to access the treatment and support they deserve,” he said.
“But perhaps the most relevant point is that in many cases early diagnosis can identify people who could be eligible for potential disease-modifying treatments for Alzheimer’s disease.”
Mr Liddell-Grainger said the dementia statistics made for chilling reading.
“They suggest that in my constituency alone more than 30,000 people are likely to develop dementia in one form or another. But of course it is an unseen, insidious condition which in so very many cases only starts to manifest itself once well advanced.
“I find it particularly shocking that while dementia has now been found to cost the UK £42 billion a year only 1.4 per cent of dementia healthcare is spent on diagnosis and treatment.
“The longer that situation pertains the greater the chances of healthcare systems eventually being overwhelmed in attempting to care for those whose dementia symptoms are well advanced yet who could have been helped had they been diagnosed at an earlier stage.”
