From: hounddog23x@gmail.com   
      
   Government pledges £300m on dementia research   
      
      
   21 February 2015   
      
      
    From the section Health   
   Brain   
      
   Loss of tissue in a demented brain compared with a healthy one   
      
   More than £300m is to be spent by the government on research into dementia,   
   the prime minister has announced.   
   David Cameron said an international dementia institute would be established in   
   England over the next five years in a bid to make the UK a world leader for   
   research and medical trials.   
   Some 1.3 million NHS workers will also receive additional training in how to   
   care for people with dementia.   
   The PM said dementia was "one of the greatest challenges of our lifetime".   
   There are approximately 850,000 people living with dementia in the UK, with   
   the number expected to hit a million within the next 10 years.   
   'Bold ambition'   
   The government said a separate multimillion-pound fund would be launched   
   within weeks to help establish an international investment scheme to discover   
   new drugs and treatments that could slow the onset of dementia, or even   
   deliver a cure, by 2025.   
   It hopes the global fund will bring together investment from the private,   
   public and philanthropic sectors under a single scheme to pay for research   
   projects into the disease.   
   Faster assessments by GPs are also included in the prime minister's challenge   
   on dementia 2020 plans.   
   The prime minister first launched the dementia challenge for England in March   
   2012, building on the previous government's national dementia strategy.   
   Mr Cameron visited High Wycombe to meet people with dementia and dementia   
   friends - people who are able to spot signs of the illness and help sufferers.   
   He said: "What today's announcement is about is a very simple but bold   
   ambition, and that is to make the United Kingdom the best place on the planet   
   in terms of researching into dementia, in terms of diagnosing people with   
   dementia and then in terms of    
   treating, helping and caring for them."   
   line   
   Signs of dementia   
   Struggling to remember recent events   
   Problems following conversations   
   Forgetting the names of friends or objects   
   Repeating yourself   
   Problems with thinking or reasoning   
   Confusion in familiar places   
   line   
   The NHS workers receiving extra training on how to provide best standards of   
   care for people with dementia will range from surgeons to hospital porters,   
   the government said.   
   There are also plans to give three million more "dementia friends" training in   
   how to support those with the condition.   
   Other pledges include having the majority of people in England living in   
   "dementia-friendly communities" in five years' time by making shops, transport   
   and other public places more accessible to people with the condition.   
   Alzheimer's patient   
   Two thirds of dementia sufferers in the UK are women   
   Labour's shadow health secretary Andy Burnham welcomed the announcement but   
   said more needed to be done to support dementia sufferers now.   
   He said: "Hundreds of thousands of vulnerable older people have lost social   
   care support since David Cameron entered Downing Street. Social care in   
   England is close to collapse but this government is in denial about it."   
   Professor Simon Lovestone, from Oxford University, said recent trials for new   
   drugs had failed.   
   "We now need to do better clinical trials, we need to do them earlier in the   
   disease process, and for that we need tests for early diagnosis and we need   
   better drugs," he said.   
   "And I think that the announcement that's been made today, together with the   
   investment that's already been made in the UK, puts the UK at the leading   
   front of a truly international effort that will actually deliver on this."   
   Professor Nigel Hooper, dementia researcher at the University of Manchester,   
   told BBC Breakfast £300m was "a great investment" but said cancer research   
   received five times as much funding globally as dementia.   
   Initial dementia assessments will take place in an average of six weeks and   
   will be followed by support such as informing sufferers of local services that   
   can help them, as well as advice for their carers.   
   Share this story About sharing   
   Email   
   Facebook   
   Twitter   
   WhatsApp   
   More on this story   
      
   Alzheimer's charity hails one million 'dementia friends'   
   21 February 2015   
   Million 'dementia friends' wanted for training   
   8 November 2012   
   Uneven dementia care 'disgraceful'   
   15 January 2013   
   G8 'will develop dementia cure or treatment by 2025'   
   11 December 2013   
   Related Internet links   
      
   Alzheimer's Society   
   The BBC is not responsible for the content of external Internet sites   
      
      
      
      
   http://m.bbc.com/news/health-31566064   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)