This September saw the 10th global Alzheimer’s month, were people come together from all around the world to raise awareness and to challenge the stigma around dementia. In Parliament and at Conference I met with representatives from the Alzheimer’s Society. Our talks focused on fixing the broken care system.

Currently around 3,400 people in Newcastle live with Dementia, 86% of which have moderate to severe symptoms meaning they require significant care. This is a growing problem with the number of sufferers set to increase by almost a third in Newcastle by 2030. I therefore welcome Jonathon Ashworth’s announcement at Conference that Labour will double our funding for dementia research.

As a result of our talks, I pressed the Health Secretary on what assessment his Department has made of the availability of CT and MRI scans for the diagnosis of Alzheimer’s disease. I was disappointed to be told that no assessment has been made. I will continue to hold the Government to account on dementia care.