Dementia Strategy for County

“COUNTY WILL HAVE A DEMENTIA STRATEGY” reported the Herald Express on 3 July. The article went on to point out that the Devon council area (which excludes Plymouth and Torbay) has roughly 16,000 dementia diagnoses at this point in time, but no overall strategy in place to help people living with dementia. Nigel Acheson, Devon’s chief medical officer, is quoted as saying: “dementia is a problem that all of us know someone impacted by it, and it is an area where colleagues in the voluntary sector, social care and health care have a role to play. We have set out the fact that there is no comprehensive dementia strategy in Devon, but in our aging population the proportion of older people is increasing, which is a good thing (as we’re living longer) but we have an opportunity to help older people live well.” The worrying thing is that this doesn’t seem to address the issues affecting young people living with dementia.