Dementia Action Week: Government announces 10-year plan to tackle dementia

The Health Secretary Sajid Javid has announced a 10-year plan which will include a focus on “prevention” of dementia and committing £375 million into research on “neurodegenerative diseases” over the next five years.

Speaking at an Alzheimer’s Society’s conference in London, Mr Javid told delegates the government’s strategy would look at the same four themes behind its reforms in health and care called the four P’s: "Prevention, personalisation, performance and people".

Maintaining a healthy lifestyle will be prominent in the ‘prevention’ part of the plan after it has been estimated as much as “40 per cent of dementia is potentially preventable.”

Mr Javid said: “High blood pressure, physical inactivity, alcohol, obesity and healthy eating all have a part to play. We now know that what’s good for the heart is also good for the brain.

“So, we’re going to be very ambitious on prevention, because I don’t accept that dementia is an inevitable part of ageing. It isn’t.

“I want our dementia strategy to be a 10-year plan, not just five. Because we can only get to grips with long-term challenges by thinking long-term."

The conference coincides with Dementia Action Week which runs from 16-22 May and is Alzheimer's Society's biggest and longest running awareness campaign. This year’s theme is diagnosis.

Research by the Alzheimer’s Society shows tens of thousands of people are still missing out on a dementia diagnosis each year because they confuse key symptoms with getting old.

Mr Javid also announced the government has committed £375 million into research on neurodegenerative diseases over the next five years – and Mr Javid said he would work across government to “boost this” further.

“It means measuring ourselves against the leading countries globally and being unafraid to find new ways of working.

“It means being bold about finding new medicines and new treatments. It means being ambitious on new technology, like genomic sequencing and digital biomarkers.

“We’re at the crossroads. All of us here today, we understand the challenges that lie ahead. When it comes to dementia, we know there have never been any quick fixes. We know there aren’t any easy wins.”

'Over 900,000 people in the UK are believed to be living with dementia'

Alzheimer’s Research UK is encouraged to see the Secretary of State announce a more ambitious approach to dementia regarding the “scale of the challenge” but concerned the government has not delivered on its 2019 ’Dementia Moonshot’ promise to “double funding for dementia research” and with no “disease-modifying treatments available,” the charity wants to see funding for research to “match this ambition and achieve long term solutions.”

Susan Mitchell, head of policy at Alzheimer’s Research UK said: “The government’s existing target of diagnosing two-thirds of people with dementia has not been ambitious enough so we welcome a stronger focus on improving the timeliness and accuracy of diagnosis.

Alzheimer's Research says the government must invest in research to improve the way "we diagnose diseases like Alzheimer’s and ensure that innovations in diagnosis make their way into the health service as quickly as possible."

Ms Mitchell added: “We’ve called for the creation of a Dementia Medicines Taskforce to address the urgent need for new treatments for people with dementia. Such a task force could turbocharge efforts to develop and deliver life-changing treatments but would need clear leadership from government to coordinate this activity.

“With up to 40 per cent of dementia cases potentially preventable we must see the government embed approaches to good brain health across all policy areas to help more people reduce their risk of dementia.”

Over 900,000 people in the UK are believed to be living with dementia. In 2020, it was the leading cause of death (in England and Wales) after COVID-19.

By 2025, 1 million people in the UK are expected to have dementia and is expected to rise to 1.6 million by 2040.