Tackling dementia is a great challenge but the hope is real

WE MUST prioritise tackling dementia, and the case for doing so is more overwhelming than it's ever been.

- Kate Lee

The situation I'm about to set out is not done to shame, depress or scare. It's to affirm what we all know to be true about the scale and urgency of the challenge dementia brings to the NHS, to social care and most importantly to those living with dementia and their loved ones.

Because it's at an individual and family level where dementia hits hardest. The experiences of those affected by dementia must underpin everything. And while we know no two experiences are the same, bringing to the fore the impact of this cruel disease is something we have a responsibility to do.

With dementia, the personal challenge so often becomes the system challenge. The two cannot be separated, and nor should they. The personal and private devastation directly impacts the system - the NHS and social care - and, more widely, the economy. This isn't an either/or situation.

We know people are struggling and we know the system is struggling. They need to be understood as the same challenge the enormous, widespread, existential challenge of dementia so much of which has been hidden for too long.

We can't carry on ignoring it.