Cameron launches challenge to end “national crisis” of poor dementia care

The prime minister has launched a three pronged approach to making the UK a world leader in dementia care—by improving the health and care of people with dementia, raising awareness about the condition to make communities more responsive to patients’ needs, and putting more resources into dementia research.

David Cameron said it was a national scandal that dementia was so poorly managed. “The level of diagnosis, understanding, and awareness of dementia is shockingly low. It is as though we’ve been in collective denial,” he said on 26 March at a conference organised by the Alzheimer’s Society.

His “dementia challenge” includes screening all those aged 65 to 74 for early signs of dementia as part of routine health checks for older people to detect cardiovascular disease, kidney disease, and diabetes. From April hospitals in England will be financially rewarded for checking people over 75 years admitted as emergencies …