Dartford MP opens up about mother's dementia

Jim Dickson MP has called for more funding for early diagnosis of the condition

Dartford MP Jim Dickson has called for more funding for dementia after opening up about his mother's experience of the condition.

The MP is urging the Chancellor Rachel Reeves to put more money towards early detection in the autumn budget on 30 October.

He said his mother had benefitted from being on medication since developing the condition in its early stages disease six years ago.

The Department for Health and Social Care said it was committed to "transform our broken NHS" to catch illnesses earlier.

Dickson's 93-year-old father has a live-in carer to help look after his mother at home.

"She lives a pretty good quality of life and the deterioration hasn't been as rapid as you with people who are diagnosed late," he said.

The politician is now asking for funding to back more ambitious diagnosis targets in the NHS and calling for better training of medics to spot the condition earlier on.

He said diagnosing dementia once it has progressed is "much more expensive overall for the NHS and for the care system."

"If you diagnose early, the condition can be slowed down," he said.

"If you diagnose late, you are often into a world of severe impairment quite quickly and expensive care packages and the family needing to rally round and provide help."

He added that doctors should be trained to spots signs of the condition in patients attending hospital for seemingly unrelated incidents, such as falls.

A Department for Health and Social Care spokesperson said: "We will transform our broken NHS from late treatment to one that catches illness earlier.

"We are also committed to building a national care service based on consistent national standards and delivery locally to ensure that everyone can get the care they need."