Meeting of the Parliament 01 March 2023 [Draft]
I am sure that most, if not all, members in the chamber have been impacted by dementia in some way. When I was a student, I worked in a care home as an activities organiser. I know that colleagues will struggle to see me as the home’s redcoat, but in many ways that allowed me to get a better understanding of people living with dementia, and to build relationships with their families and understand something of the illness and the support that is required to ensure that we work hand-in-hand with families to deliver the care and support that is needed.
It is estimated that 90,000 people in Scotland live with dementia. As we heard, new research from Marie Curie estimates that the number of people dying with dementia as the primary underlying cause of death will rise by almost 200 per cent by 2040.
I begin with the areas of consensus that exist in the debate. Our public health approach to dementia must recognise and respond to the increasing prevalence of dementia across society. That is why that we, in the Labour Party, believe that it is imperative that we have a person-centred approach to dementia that focuses our energies on empowering people with dementia to continue to live fulfilling lives with access to additional care and support when they need it.
Any strategy for dementia must, first and foremost, recognise that people who live with dementia are human beings just like you and me. They have social needs and are supported by their loved ones, who, as we have heard from members, are often struggling in their own ways to cope and find the space to deal with the illness. We must explore how we make our communities more dementia inclusive and dementia friendly, so that people with dementia can live at home for as long as they are able to do so. We support the work of the dementia-friendly communities network, which brings together hundreds of dementia-friendly communities that have made meaningful changes to local villages and towns across Scotland to create inclusive spaces for people with dementia.
When the Government launched its national conversation on a new dementia strategy for Scotland, last autumn, we welcomed that development, and we take seriously the responses of people with lived experience, clinicians, third sector organisations and the family carers whom I have spoken about.
What is clear from the conversation is that people who live with dementia and their families need to see action. They need to see tangible signs of progress from the Government, because national conversations become devalued unless they result in substantially improved outcomes for patients. We have had a national conversation, but have we really been listening to what has been said? Despite encouraging rhetoric, the Government’s delivery record has been less than impressive.
The SNP has been in power for 15 years and the first dementia strategy was published 13 years ago, yet people with dementia and their families still face a postcode lottery for diagnosis and post-diagnostic support. The most recent statistics, which are from 2019-20, show that only 42 per cent of people who are newly diagnosed with dementia are referred for post-diagnostic support. Indeed, during the pandemic, people with dementia and their families were at the centre of that maelstrom and they did not receive support in their lives often enough. In some ways, that reflects the Government’s failure to learn lessons since the implementation of the first national dementia strategy, in 2010.