The family, unpaid carers of patients diagnosed with dementia suffer enormously both mentally and physically and are likely to do so selflessly. They are unlikely to consider the impact on themselves and seek medical help. Their caring saves the U.K. Government approximately £139 billion each year.

I was one of those carers and know the suffering and impact.

I am proposing that each family carer is automatically registered as a patient of the NHS at point of diagnosis of dementia for the family member. This being the case, their GP would be responsible for the care and treatment of that carer. This would involve initial consultation and follow up.

Furthermore, I propose that each of those carers is invited to attend a mental and physical health screening at least annually. This would be similar to cancer screening. This would likely be cost neutral as short term intervention costs would be less than long term care costs

I am living with the legacy of caring for my wife selflessly and do not wish any others to go through what I did without medical support on a pro active basis.