100 years on but there’s not much to celebrate

Neil Hunt, chief executive of the Alzheimer's Society, says,

'Tomorrow marks a hundred years since the first description of Alzheimer's disease by Dr Alois Alzheimer. However, there is little to celebrate as people with dementia and those who care for them continue to be denied their basic rights to care and treatment.

'Rather than taking great strides forward in dementia care and research, this month the only current drug treatments for people with dementia are set to be severely restricted on the NHS because of cost.

'Currently dementia research in the UK is desperately under funded; finding a cure for dementia must become a research priority if we are to win the fight against this devastating disease.
'It is time to move dementia care and treatment out of the dark ages - we must take action now.'

Speaking on BBC Breakfast today Society supporter, Actress Sally Lindsay, said,

'My gran Ellen had Alzheimer's so I know how isolating and horrendous an experience it can be caring for a loved one with this debilitating condition. The brain slowly deteriorates leaving the person you love as a shell, not the person you knew anymore.

'We used to have pictures of my Gran around her room to remind us, and her carers, of the fantastic woman she was and had been.

'That's why I am pleased that the Alzheimer's Society is here to give families support and advice.'

In Britain, the current picture for people with dementia is bleak:

• People with dementia continue to have their basic rights denied by a care system that discriminates between health and personal care.
• The National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) plans to deny people in the early and late stages of Alzheimer's disease access to drug treatments because of cost.
• Research is desperately under funded. The UK spends just £11 on research per person with dementia each year, compared to £289 per person with cancer. In a hundred years we have come along way but if we are to find a cure for dementia we must act now