David Oliver: Progress on dementia in hospital

England’s health secretary, Jeremy Hunt, used a speech in March to rehash the long running prime minister’s challenge to raise standards of care for people with dementia. All Hunt really said about acute hospitals was that patients with “high dependency” would get consultant ward rounds twice a day and that some may have dementia—part of his “seven day services” crusade.1 This was a missed opportunity to celebrate good, progressive government initiatives and to rise above party politics.

The national dementia strategy was started by the Labour government in 2009,2 but the 2010 …