Living with dementia, March 2008

Highlights of this edition are available online. Click on the article titles at the bottom of this page to read each article. A downloadable pdf version of the newsletter is also available.

Andrew Ketteringham

Over the past year the Society has made real progress in raising awareness of dementia and getting the subject pushed up the political agenda. The NICE campaign gained enormous support; the publication of Dementia UK achieved huge media coverage; and we have gained attention on a number of other dementia-related issues. Last August the Department of Health in England announced it was to launch a national strategy to combat dementia (see page 5). In making the announcement, Care Minister Ivan Lewis, paid tribute to the Society for making this issue one that the Department could no longer ignore.

In January the House of Commons Health Select Committee published a report about NICE, concluding, amongst other things, that the wider benefits of drug treatments, for example the benefits to carers, should be included in NICE evaluations. Precisely the point the Society has been making.

So, we can congratulate ourselves on becoming an organisation of real influence. In part the success has been achieved through good media relations and lobbying activity. But it has also been achieved through the active participation of supporters around the country. That combination of national and local activity is really effective and needs to continue so we can achieve our goals.