With Parliament returning this week I am taking the opportunity to hold a debate on the increasingly important and always difficult subject of dementia. I have been working closely with Alzheimer’s Research UK in preparing for the debate, because for the first time there is a glimmer of hope as we confront dementia.
There are two separate developments which lead to this hope. The first is that new ways of diagnosing the diseases that cause dementia are showing promise. The second is that new treatments that affect the course of Alzheimer’s have been successfully developed and could be available in this country during this year.
As our population ages, more people are suffering from dementia. Well over a thousand people in Ashford have it, and nationally the figure is almost a million. By 2050 this is estimated to increase to 1.6 million. It is the UK’s leading cause of death.
Up to now there have been no effective treatments for the underlying causes of the disease, so we are at a real tipping point. Clearly we are only at the early stages of a journey which might lead to fully effective treatments, but this is a genuinely exciting time for those involved in fighting this terrible disease.
What I want to see is this country at the forefront of developing the treatments and systems which will allow potential sufferers to benefit. We have great expertise in life sciences and world-class research industries.
Like many others I became interested in this subject from personal experience. My father suffered from dementia in his later years, and I saw how cruel its effects can be. I want to make sure that 2024 is the year when we set out a clear path to making effective treatments available to as many sufferers as possible as fast as possible.