The New Statesman

Hello and welcome to this special podcast, brought to you by the New Statesman's Spotlight Team.

We cover policy for those who shape it and the businesses it affects.

I'm Sarah Darwood.

Dementia will affect one in two of us, whether through caring for a loved one, getting a diagnosis ourselves or both.

Yet where you live could determine how quickly you get a diagnosis, or whether you get one at all.

In this episode, we'll discuss the urgent need for early and accurate dementia diagnosis,

why it matters, and why so many people are still facing delays.

We'll also address whether the government is doing enough to prioritise dementia diagnosis and what some recent political decisions mean for patients, families and frontline services.

And crucially, we'll be asking, what needs to change to ensure fairer, faster access to diagnosis across the UK?

This episode has been fully funded by Alzheimer's Research UK.

Joining me on the panel today is Sam Benham Hermetz,

Executive Director of Policy and Communications at Alzheimer's Research UK, Chris Bain,

Alzheimer's Research UK supporter, and Professor Vanessa Raymond, consultant psychiatrist and associate

professor at the University of Oxford. Welcome all of you and thanks so much for being here.

Sam, let's start with you. To set the scene, how big do you think the challenge

currently is in the UK in terms of early diagnosis of dementia? Sadly, dementia is the UK's biggest

killer, but we know that one in three people never receive a formal diagnosis despite

living with dementia. So too many people are going without. And we know

for those who do seek a diagnosis, they're waiting too long. Many people wait sometimes years

before coming forward for a diagnosis and talking to their GP. And once they do get a referral

to a specialist, they're often waiting on average 22 weeks,

...