Pleas for funding boost as dementia care costs threaten to soar
The total cost of dementia care in the West Midlands is set to almost double over the next decade, according to new figures.
The latest figures estimate care costs will rise from £3,376,000 to £5,297,000 in 2030 – an increase of 66 per cent.
It highlights calls by the Alzheimer’s Society for immediate social care investment to be a key pillar of the Government’s forthcoming spring budget on March 11.
The figures, calculated by the London School of Economics and Political Science, combine costs to the NHS, social care and the value of unpaid care provided by family members.
Across England it is estimated that about 60 per cent of social care costs are typically met by people living with dementia and their families because they do not qualify for state support.
As part of its on-going Fix Dementia Care campaign, the Alzheimer’s Society is demanding urgent investment, backing calls for £8 billion in extra funding for adult social care in England by 2020/21.
The charity estimates at least £2.65bn of that amount could be spent on care for people living with dementia to improve the financial and emotional impact they and their families face when accessing care.
Kumbi Mandinyenya, Alzheimer’s Society’s area manager for the Midlands, said: “The social care system is unfair and unfit for people living with dementia. Alzheimer’s Society is campaigning to end this injustice.
"We are calling on the Government to commit to £8bn in immediate funding to bring care to an acceptable level, as well as a clear timetable for long-term reform that provides a fairer system and ensures access to quality care.
“For far too long, families have been privately struggling to care for their loved ones with dementia, left to pick up the pieces of a social care system that’s coming apart at the seams.”
