The UK’s leading dementia research charity, the Alzheimer’s Research Trust, led the calls for a substantial increase in dementia research funding, which have received backing from Help the Aged, Age Concern, Conservative and Liberal Democrat shadow health ministers, Labour backbenchers, and leader articles in the Independent and Telegraph newspapers.

 

Rebecca Wood, Chief Executive of the Alzheimer’s Research Trust, said:

“The government expects its strategy’s dementia care measures to save £1 billion over the next ten years. If the government was really committed to social justice and financial prudence, it would reinvest this money into dementia research. We have world-leading dementia experts in the , making exciting progress in their fight against this disease, but they are struggling for want of funds. If research results in a five year delay in the development of dementia, we could halve the number of people who die with the disease.”

 

Paul Cann, Director of Policy and External Relations for Help the Aged, said:

“After years of well-funded research, early diagnosis now gives cancer sufferers the hope of recovery – without essential research, there can be no such hope for dementia patients.

 

"The £1 billion this strategy is expected to save should be spent finding long term solutions to this problem, as well as improving the lives of those living with the condition."

 

Greg Mulholland MP, Liberal Democrat shadow health minister, said: "This long overdue strategy is a fundamentally missed opportunity. No increase in research funding means we will remain no closer to understanding dementia or addressing the devastating impact that it has on the thousands of people and their families.”

 

Stephen O’Brien, Conservative shadow health minister, said: "We welcome the Government's announcement, but sadly this is too little too late from a Government which has dithered over taking action on dementia for 11 years. Unfortunately Labour's approach is still too piecemeal and their strategy fails to address key issues such as the continuing scandal of patients being inappropriately prescribed 'chemical cosh' drugs and the need to ensure that funding for Alzheimer's research is given greater priority in the NHS research budget."

 

The leader in today’s (Wednesday’s) Independent said:

“The Government currently spends about as much on research into dementia as it costs to build a single mile of motorway. Dementia costs the economy more than cancer, heart disease and strokes combined, yet receives only an eighth of the Government support for cancer research.”

 

The leader in today’s (Wednesday’s) Telegraph said:

“The Alzheimer's Research Trust described yesterday's proposals as a "huge let down" because they have so little to say about research. Yet with dementia already costing the economy, on the trust's estimate, £17 billion a year – more than cancer, heart disease and stroke combined – and with that figure destined to triple to £50 billion within 30 years, the case for investing heavily in research into the illness is overwhelming. Unless treatments to delay its onset are perfected, we will face an unsustainable care bill by the middle years of this century.”

 

Sir Terry Pratchett, Patron of the Alzheimer’s Research Trust, said:

“Dementia is no more a natural part of aging than is cancer, yet the latter, in comparison, is flush with support and research. Alzheimer’s appears to be seen as a social problem rather than a medical one. A cancer patient is a battler; a dementia patient, a superfluous old fart.

 

“Is there going to be a government of any stripe in willing to put its money where its mouth is and fund changes? Or will dementia remain the most feared disease of the over 55s?”

 

Sir Terry, who took his concerns about dementia research to the Prime Minister in November as part of an Alzheimer’s Research Trust campaign, appears in a two-part BBC 2 documentary about living with Alzheimer’s on Wednesday 4th and 11th February at 9pm.

 

The National Dementia Strategy for England was launched by the Health Secretary Alan Johnson on Tuesday 3rd February.