Dementia numbers increase in south-east

There are now 26,400 people diagnosed with the condition – an increase of over 2,000 since last year.

Crucially though, there are thought to be another 39,000 people who are living with the condition in the South East, but who aren’t diagnosed.

Chris Wyatt, Area manager for Alzheimer’s Society in the South East said: “It’s encouraging to see an increase in the number people that are receiving a diagnosis in the South East – but half of people that are living with dementia aren’t receiving the support, benefits and the treatments that are often available.

“The NHS has made a commitment to improving diagnosis rates so now it is time for that commitment to turn into action locally, to help ensure people in the South East can live well with the condition.”

Over the last year, Alzheimer’s Society has worked with Tesco to run a Dementia Roadshow which has toured the UK, including visits to Crawley and Chichester. The charity is also distributing thousands of leaflets about the importance of diagnosis to GP surgeries and other community facilities in the South East at the end of January.

The charity’s advice is to speak to your GP if you are worried about your memory and experiencing symptoms such as: struggling to remember recent events (despite being able to recall things that happened in the past), finding it difficult to follow conversations or programmes on TV, having problems thinking and reasoning and regularly forgetting the names of friends or everyday objects.

People who are worried about their memory can also contact Alzheimer’s Society on 0300 222 1122 or can visit www.alzheimers.org.uk/memoryworry