Edward has joined the team from the Alzheimers Society at an event in Parliament, where he added his support to their campaign to ensure we all 'Unite to Fix Dementia', and seize the opportunity offered by the Government's Social Care Green Paper this year.
Alongside raising awareness of dementia, and research to try to find a cure, ensuring that our social care system provides the care and support people with dementia and those who care for them need, is vital. The Government's forthcoming Social Care Green Paper gives the opportunity to ensure that the needs of people with dementia are heard loud and clear, and addressed in the proposals that emerge from the consultation. The Alzheimers Society report: 'Dementia - the true cost', based on listening to people with dementia and their carers from around the UK to get an in depth understanding of what is needed, is a key contribution to that debate.
Edward said: "Tackling dementia and ensuring that people with dementia, and those who care for them, have the support they meed is one of the most important challenges we face as a society. As Co-Chair of the APPG on Dementia, I very much welcome the Government's forthcoming Social Care Green Paper, and the opportunity it offers for our country to specifically address the future care needs of people with dementia and their carers, but also to ensure that we have a social care system more broadly that is able to meet the needs of our changing society for many decades in to the future.
The research undertaken by the Alzheimers Society is an important contribution to that debate on the future of our social care system, drawing as it does on the real experiences of people with dementia and those who care for them. It was a pleasure to join the Alzheimers Society for this event in Parliament, and I am confident that working together we can unite to design a care system that fully addresses all the needs of people with dementia."