Cabinet to become 'Dementia Friends'

All Cabinet ministers are to join Prime Minister David Cameron in becoming Dementia Friends.

Mr Cameron told BBC Radio Oxford that the whole of the Cabinet has made a pledge to join the initiative.

Jeremy Hughes, chief executive of the Alzheimer’s Society, said: “It is excellent leadership that all the Cabinet will be joining David Cameron, Nick Clegg and Jeremy Hunt in becoming Dementia Friends. They join Ed Miliband and many other Parliamentarians, as well as hundreds of thousands of people nationwide, who are already Dementia Friends.

“Whether you attend a face-to-face session or watch the online video, Dementia Friends is about learning more about dementia and the small ways you can help. From telling friends about the Dementia Friends programme to visiting someone you know living with dementia, every action counts.”

People with dementia often feel vulnerable and require a helping hand to go about their daily lives and to feel included within their local community.

Dementia Friends is helping by giving people a better understanding of dementia and some of the small things that they can do that can make a difference to people living with dementia such as helping someone find the right bus or by spreading the word about dementia.

Mr Cameron told BBC Radio Oxford: “It's a fascinating thing to do to put yourself in the shoes of someone with dementia and work out how best to help them. Anyone who has seen someone with dementia, someone they have known about or cared about, a friend's parent, you can't help thinking 'what if that happened to me, what would it be like, how would I react?’ I think this national debate which is taking place is a good thing because instead of this being a silent crisis, we are all facing up to it.”

He also revealed how hard it was seeing Margaret Thatcher deteriorate when she succumbed to the disease.

Dementia Friends is funded by the Department of Health and the Office of Civil Society, and Alzheimer’s Society is working with various partners to help to deliver the programme throughout England.

The Government hopes to create a network of 1,000,000 Dementia Friends by 2015 and to transform the way the nation thinks, talks and acts when it comes to dementia.

The Alzheimer’s Society predicts one in three people will develop dementia this year, and by 2015 there could be 850,000 people in the UK with a form of dementia.

For more information visit www.alzheimers.org.uk