Neil Parish MP makes pledge in the fight against dementia

Neil Parish, MP for Tiverton and Honiton, has pledged to take action to support the 800,000 people living with dementia across the UK.

Neil Parish joined 200 other MPs and representatives from Alzheimer’s Society in Portcullis House, Westminster on Tuesday 10th September to provide a handwritten statement of the action they will take to support people with dementia and their carers. Neil Parish pledged to help tackle the stigma attached to dementia and raise awareness to improve diagnosis rates in their constituency.

Neil Parish said:
“Devon is a beautiful county and many elderly people come to retire here. However, this means that over 25% of residents in our constituency are over the age of 65 years  which poses a huge challenge for healthcare providers. Sadly one in three people over 65 will develop dementia, and it is areas like Devon with an older and rural based population that currently are seeing their resources stretched. I will be pressing the government to ensure that the NHS funding formula does not disadvantage rural areas.”

Alzheimer’s Society campaigners were in Westminster to drum up political support for their trailblazing Dementia Friends initiative that launched in February this year. Dementia Friends aims to help people understand what it might be like to live with dementia and turn that understanding into action. Alzheimer’s Society is aiming to have one million Dementia Friends by 2015, to help make England more dementia-friendly and improve the lives of the 650,000 people currently living with the condition.

During the afternoon, 30 MPs from across England took part in a Dementia Friends session.

Jeremy Hughes, Chief Executive at Alzheimer’s Society said: "Most people don’t know enough about dementia. Dementia Friends is the perfect opportunity to be able to invite everyone to improve their knowledge. We are pleased to have been able to engage over 130 MPs in one day. They have a huge influence in their local communities and we hope they will use this opportunity to take action and improve lives".

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