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Dementia Sufferers

I agree with the hon. Lady's sentiments. Neil Hunt and the Alzheimer's Society have done a tremendous job in raising awareness of these issues and pressuring the system to take them far more seriously than it has done hitherto. I pay tribute to my hon. Friend the Member for Worsley (Barbara Keeley). She has used her experience and her passion for both social care and the needs of carers ever since she became a parliamentarian. She has made a tremendous impact in terms of raising the profile of these issues in Parliament and more widely. Although, as she said, this is not a very sexy issue, it is important that individual parliamentarians champion issues that are less sexy than others. Out there, for the families and people in our communities and our constituencies, these are the issues that arguably matter far more than some of the others on which we spend a lot of parliamentary time. I pay tribute to her for the work that she continues to do in this area. My hon. Friend has made a number of important points. The effect of caring on the health of the carer is something that we need to consider as part of our work on the new deal for carers and on the national dementia strategy. She is absolutely right on that point. She also referred to the fact that carers are usually the expert on the person for whom they care, which is something that professionals forget too often. The relative—the husband, wife, son or daughter—knows far more about that person and what they need and want than a professional will ever be able to. In some of our public services, we have to change the culture of how carers are treated. Arguably, we need to do so more in the NHS than in the social care system.