Dementia is something which can affect anyone and is forecast to increase as the average age of people in this country increases. Dementia is one of the biggest health threats this country faces and is expected to be a major public health challenge for us in the 21st Century.
As we live longer, more people are expected to get dementia- in fact, the global numbers indicate that it may double worldwide over the next 20 years.
I met with several residents and a Professor from Northampton University to discuss dementia and what we can do locally to help people with the condition and to hopefully one day eradicate it over the longer run.
I also briefly attended an event in Parliament which supports the idea of having ping pong tables in every elderly care home- a game good for reaction time and mental acuteness.
The UK funds roughly £52 million of research into dementia, but the Government has highlighted this as a long term problem and has pledged to increase the research money to £66 million by 2015.