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Dementia Sufferers

I shall leave the Minister to deal with that political point. While speaking of care for dementia sufferers, I have discussed unpaid family carers. That is appropriate because two thirds of older people with dementia receive care in the community, mostly from unpaid carers. Up to half the people with dementia also have depression and, as I mentioned, a third of those caring for an older person have depression themselves. As the hon. Member for Rugby and Kenilworth said, dementia costs the health and social care economy more than cancer, stroke and heart disease combined. Two wards in my constituency have high levels of deprivation and health inequality. I know that one ward has high levels of heart disease and the other has very high levels of stroke. The risk factors for diseases such as vascular dementia are similar to those for heart disease and stroke. It is likely that there are many dementia sufferers in my constituency—many of the carers whom I met during and around carers week were caring for dementia sufferers—but I do not have the information about dementia that I do about other serious diseases. Given the national picture, it is fair to assume that there are probably some 1,000 dementia sufferers in each parliamentary constituency, and possibly more. Owing to my constituency's high levels of health inequality and stroke, it is likely that we have more. I want to do what I can to advocate for those dementia sufferers and their carers and to improve the services that they receive. Many of them are managing without services and indeed, in some cases, without a diagnosis. Clearly, better awareness is needed, and sufferers must be referred earlier. That should lead to earlier diagnosis, which could help to ensure that the needs of sufferers and carers are assessed. In other debates, I have referred to carers' rights to have their own needs assessed. Carers are providing remarkable levels of care to people with dementia and they should be supported. A further step is to improve treatment and support so that people with dementia are treated with dignity and respect. It is key, as the hon. Member for Rugby and Kenilworth mentioned, that we ensure that health care staff and those in respite care homes receive training to equip them to identify and meet the needs of this group of people. One of the carers whom I met reported to me that after her husband had spent a week in respite care, the person in charge of the care home complained about his behaviour, which he said other patients had found disturbing. All the behaviours being complained about were classic to dementia sufferers and were what she dealt with every day as an unpaid family carer. I pay tribute to all the carers whom I have mentioned today and to the organisations that support them, such as Age Concern, Crossroads and the Princess Royal Trust for Carers. I asked one of the carers what extra support or help she needed and told her that I would pass on what she said to Ministers. She asked for two things: support for an occasional longer spell of shopping so that she could wander round the shops rather than racing around in two hours every week; and respite care that would enable her to leave home for a week, or occasionally two. She has not been away for two weeks since her husband's illness started. We must ensure that standards in respite care homes are raised substantially so that the carers whom I have described can have a decent break from caring without spending the whole time worrying about the standard of care. Such carers are the care for dementia sufferers and they deserve our support.