UPDATE

Last week Shelagh came with us to an event in Parliament, where the Prime Minister David Cameron, the Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg, the leader of the opposition Ed Miliband and over 200 MPs came to find out more about the Right to Know campaign and our general election manifesto, the dementia promise.

On the day, Shelagh also handed her petition into Downing Street – thank you to everyone who signed and supported Shelagh’s campaign.

But that doesn’t mean the campaign’s over. We’ll keep pushing for better post-diagnosis support for people with dementia after the election, and have been busy talking to politicians to make sure that dementia is at the top of the agenda for the next government.

We wanted to thank you for all of your support. Shelagh was delighted with the number of people who backed this petition, and so are we, although we’d all rather the support was already there for people who’ve been diagnosed with dementia.

With your help we can push for proper support for people like Shelagh. If you haven’t joined our campaigning network, you still can by going to our Right to Know campaign page.

If you need any information or support for yourself or a loved one with dementia, Alzheimer’s Society has plenty of resources on the Living With Dementia section on the website, and you can call our helpline on 0300 222 1122 if you just need to talk to someone.

Thank you so much.

The Alzheimer's Society campaigns team

225,000 people will develop dementia this year - that’s one every three minutes. But far too many of them will get no information, support or treatment to help them manage this devastating condition and plan for the future.

In a recent survey by Alzheimer’s Society, 90% of people said were dissatisfied with the support they received after their diagnosis. And I am one of them.

Being told I had dementia was hard. I’d gone to the hospital on my own and was with the doctor for less than five minutes. He delivered this life-changing news with so little compassion and tact - it was as if I was being told I had tonsillitis. But the hardest thing wasn’t the diagnosis itself, it was that there was no support and very little information.

I simply went home and hid under my duvet.

I am lucky though. I have a loving family who have been there to support me both during my diagnosis and throughout the four years I have been living with dementia.

But not everyone is as lucky as me.

That’s why I want everyone diagnosed with dementia to be properly supported. They should be given information about their condition, about potential treatments that may help with the symptoms and about any local services available.

They may also just need someone to talk to.

Everyone diagnosed with dementia should have access to a Dementia Adviser or Support Worker who can help with all these things. This isn’t too much to ask.

So I’m asking the three main party leaders to commit to this in their General Election manifestos. Surely the least people with dementia can expect is a little help after their diagnosis. If we can get all of our political leaders to recognise the importance of this issue now, then they have to do something about it in the next parliament when they’re in office.  

If you agree please sign this petition and let’s make sure no one faces dementia alone.

You can leave a comment about why you’re supporting the campaign below.

Thank you.

 

Shelagh Robinson