NHS facing dementia time bomb

This weekend the Observer reports that a new study - commissioned by the Alzheimer's Society and set to be published next week - will reveal that the number of people suffering from dementia in the UK will rise by a million to 1.7m by 2050.

According to the report, within two decades there will be a million dementia sufferers and demand on the NHS for services will escalate.

It warns that, as the proportion of older people in the population increases and family members are less able or willing to provide care, there will be an explosion of demand, placing 'an intolerable strain' on the NHS.

The Alzheimer's Society is expected to argue that what is needed is a national dementia plan, similar to the NHS plans that already exist to deal with cancer, strokes and heart disease.

This would elevate dementia from a low to a high national health priority, establish long-term investment in research and treatment, improve the quality of life of those with dementia and their carers and, crucially, promote early diagnosis.

Professor Martin Prince of the Institute of Psychiatry, one of the lead researchers on the study, said "If you look at priorities within the NHS, dementia receives very little investment. Yet while figures for cancer, heart disease and strokes are stabilising, the rates of dementia are substantially on the increase."

Back in October, the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (Nice) advised that drug treatments should not be given to patients in the early and late stages of Alzheimer's - a decision the Alzheimer's Society is due to challenge in court.

To show the effect of shortfalls of public money to help sufferers, the Observer report highlights the case of George Russell, 73, and his wife Enid, 72. They have been married for more than 50 years, but for the past 11 years George has been Enid's carer.

It costs £39 for Enid to attend a day centre for a few hours three times a week - more hours aren't available - and £20 for a woman to bath Enid twice a week.

George said, "I don't think it's right. Enid worked all her life and has never been ill, so why should she pay now that she is sick?"

And he's absolutely right. But sadly we all know where billions of pounds every year that could help many people like George and Enid is going instead - completely without justification.

The question is: are MPs going to block sending yet more billions to the EU - by voting against the EU budget deal when it comes before Parliament? And ensure that money can be put to useful work tackling some of these problems instead?

Or are they going to ignore needs like this and reward the EU's twelve years of audit failure with a 60% increase in payments?