Government has begun searching for a Dementia Tsar after social care minister Alison McGovern said she would ‘waste no time’ in making the appointment.
McGovern announced the recruitment at the Alzheimer’s Society Conference in London on Thursday.
The two-year role will focus on improving diagnosis, treatment, care and support for people with dementia, as well as research.
It was first promised by former health secretary Wes Streeting after recommendations made by Baroness Casey in her review of adult social care.
Alongside the appointment, ministers plan to create a new dementia council drawing together the NHS, social care, local government, academia and charities.
The role will be paid £660 a day and applications are open until 8 October.
Commenting on the news, Michelle Dyson CB, chief executive officer at Alzheimer’s Society, said: ‘We welcome the start of the recruitment process for the Dementia Tsar…this will help dementia at last receive the attention that is so desperately needed and long overdue.’
She added that the role must be a ‘catalyst for change and drive forward the progress we need in research, diagnosis and social care.’
A ‘hidden crisis’
Opening her speech at the Alzheimer’s Society conference, McGovern said dementia had been neglected for too long and that the divide between health and social care was particularly difficult for people with the disease and their families.
She reflected on her experience of campaigning on social care before being elected, saying she was surprised how many people raised concerns about care.
‘I thought I knew all the issues requiring attention in my part of the North of England,’ McGovern said. ‘We needed industrial jobs, apprenticeships for young people and we needed to keep families’ heads financially above water.
‘But in that election, when I knocked on door after door, I was shocked how many people told me their issue was care – whether a family member with dementia, a partner working in a care home, or a constituent desperately worried about their carers struggling to get around a complicated day of 15-minute appointments.
‘There was a hidden crisis I failed to see.’
The health and social care secretary said improvement would require more recognition of the skills involved in looking after people with dementia.
Government expects an additional 200,000 adult social care workers will be needed by 2035.
McGovern also said improving pay and conditions would be important in attracting more people to the sector, including younger workers.
Earlier diagnosis
There is growing hope in dementia research, with new blood tests and a wider range of drugs being tested in clinical trials.
McGovern told the conference that 158 drugs were now being tested, up from 24 ten years ago. However, the challenge is turning advances into something patients can actually benefit from.
The government is putting £5m into its Dementia Patient Flow Challenge, which aims to speed up diagnosis and help new approaches reach patients quicker.
It also wants to increase participation in dementia trials to 2,000 people this year, alongside continued investment in research programmes.
Ms McGovern said: ‘The science says we can hope. The question is: can we get it into practice quickly? And that is the job now.’
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