This week is Dementia Action Week, a time to focus attention on the need for urgent action on dementia, one of the leading causes of death in the UK.

This Dementia Action Week I am supporting Alzheimer Research UK’s call for government to deliver on their promise for a “Dementia Moonshot” to find a cure for dementia – doubling research funding and speeding up trials for new treatments.

In the UK, there are 850,000 people living with dementia, set to increase to 1.3 million by 2030.   However, we know that dementia is severely under-diagnosed, with an estimated one third of people affected by the condition not receiving a formal diagnosis. This has been exacerbated further by the impact of COVID-19.

There are currently no available treatments to delay the onset, slow progression, or cure the diseases that cause the condition. If we are to speed up progress towards life-changing new treatments, the UK Government must deliver on their prior commitments to double funding for dementia research.