Meeting of the Parliament 01 March 2023 [Draft]
I am pleased to speak for the Liberal Democrats in this important debate. As we have heard, dementia is a devastating and often tragic condition that exacts a particularly cruel toll on those living with it and those who love and care for them. It is often referred to as the long goodbye. It is the slow disappearance of cherished memory, the gradual loss of the loved one you once knew and their physical, mental and spiritual deterioration into a shell of what they once were. I cannot imagine how painful it must be to visit a brother, sister, parent or grandparent to find that they no longer recognise who you are.
Despite improvements in care and treatment over the years, this devastating illness is not going away. Indeed, it is estimated that, by the year 2025, more than 1 million people in the UK will have a dementia diagnosis and that almost all of us will know somebody who is living with the condition.
As Scotland’s population steadily ages, so, too, will the number of dementia sufferers grow. As the number of dementia sufferers rises, a renewed focus and a commitment to sustained funding are essential. Therefore, I would like to turn to the Government’s dementia strategy.
It is right that the Government has reached out to those with experience of the condition in order to inform its new strategy. Its previous strategy has not been updated since the pandemic, so a renewed focus, which takes account of the impact of the Covid years, is vital. As with every condition, early diagnosis and intervention are critical. The interruption to services that was caused by the pandemic has meant that many people have received a dementia diagnosis much later in their experience of the condition, so their condition is more progressed and their needs more acute at the point of diagnosis than would otherwise have been the case. The Government’s strategy, therefore, needs to recognise the particular and unique challenges that the recently diagnosed cohort will face, and to ensure that they and their families have access to a breadth of support.
Research conducted by Marie Curie has found that, by 2040, 10,000 more people each year will be dying with palliative care needs, and a large proportion of those are expected to be dementia sufferers. I echo Marie Curie’s calls for the Government’s new dementia strategy to include a commitment to support people living with dementia to access the tailored palliative care that they need.
We need to ensure that people are supported to live as they want to for as long as they can—that is dignity. The Government’s strategy must include an improvement in accessible and tailored end-of-life support for people with dementia, with an eye on how the ever-increasing need can be met. That must include care provision in people’s own homes and care homes as well as hospices. The previous dementia strategy included a commitment to improve palliative care, but that must now be backed by a clear and measurable implementation plan.