Sometimes opportunity surfaces when you’re not looking for it and when you least expect it. That’s pretty much what happened to me in 2024. Back in March, I found myself on the guest list of attendees at a reception at 10 Downing Street, the official residence of the British Prime Minister (then Rishi Sunak), for the announcement of a GBP 6 million (EUR 7.23 million) funding boost for clinical trials and innovation, including work on how AI can be used to support dementia diagnosis and research looking at how ‘biomarkers’ found in blood can help detect the disease early.
A few months later, I met Sir Keir Starmer, who succeeded Rishi Sunak in the UK’s June general election, at the launch of the Government’s consultation process on the ten-year strategy to rebuild the UK’s National Health Service to make it fit for the country’s projected population growth and health needs. I thought that would probably be the culmination of my interaction with Government, but I was wrong. In November, I was invited by Alzheimer’s Society to join people affected by dementia at a special Alzheimer’s Society parliamentary event (pictured), held in Westminster, calling on the UK Government to make dementia training mandatory for the social care workforce in England. Statistically only 29% of care workers have ever received any dementia training.
At the event, Alzheimer’s Society launched its “Because we’re human too” report - https://bit.ly/3DaaVmX - which highlights why dementia training matters and how to deliver it. The research showed that scaling up dementia training for the social care workforce is economical when using person-centred, evidence-based programmes like “Wellbeing and Health for People Living with Dementia” (WHELD) and “New Interventions for Independence in Dementia” (NIDUS) Professional. 150 Members of Parliament (MPs) turned up at the event, the largest attendance achieved by Alzheimer’s Society at any occasion held at Westminster. Many of those attending were new MPs following the election, and this was possibly their first exposure to dementia and the lobbying work of Alzheimer’s Society. I was asked to share my story as a carer with as many of them as I could speak to on a one-to-one basis. And so, as 2024 draws to an end and I reflect on my campaigning support for dementia and the outstanding lobbying work instigated by Alzheimer’s Society, I cannot help but wonder what 2025 has in store for me.