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Health: Dementia

Volume 703: debated on Tuesday 22 July 2008

My Lords, I beg leave to ask the Question standing in my name on the Order Paper. In so doing, I must declare an interest as a patron of the Alzheimer’s Research Trust and as the wife of an Alzheimer's sufferer.

The Question was as follows:

To ask Her Majesty's Government whether they plan to increase government spending on research into dementia.

My Lords, in recent years, the Government have invested significant sums in dementia research and will continue to do so. We believe that more could and should be done. That is why consultation on a national dementia strategy that we published last month includes a recommendation and plans for building on the existing UK research base.

My Lords, I thank the Minister for that positive reply, but is there not a serious mismatch between the size of the problem and the Government's response? Do not 700,000 people already suffer from this terrible disease? That number is forecast to double in the next 20 years, at a cost to the Exchequer of about £34 billion. Many leading scientists have warned that that could destroy the National Health Service. Does not that make the Government’s investment of a mere £25 million, only 3 per cent of the Department of Health’s research budget, look totally inadequate?

My Lords, we face a very serious problem; the Government are well aware of that. We are committed to supporting and enabling more research on dementia. A significant amount of money, £29 million, is being invested today. In addition, the department is investing £20 million over five years for the national research network on dementia and neurodegenerative diseases, DeNDRoN, plus several new initiatives involving amounts of £6 million to £8 million. Since 1997, the increase is from £5.9 million to £29 million in the past year. That shows that we are committed to that research. In the next years, we are attempting to use the model of the way that cancer research was built so successfully in the UK. That means investing in relevant research networks and centres but, as the noble Baroness will be only too well aware, it is extremely important that only science that achieves the highest quality assessment should receive funding.

My Lords, does the noble Baroness accept that research into Alzheimer’s disease and other forms of dementia has made remarkable progress in the past two years? A number of drugs have been introduced that are simply symptomatic treatments, such as Donepezil, but work that is now being done in many centres, not least on the superb new campus for ageing and health on the Newcastle General Hospital site where major research is being undertaken, shows great promise of developing drugs that strike at the cause of the disease. Does not this development justify significantly greater investment in this important field?

My Lords, the noble Lord is absolutely correct. Part of the Government’s drive to ensure that NICE processes the findings and implications of new treatments as rapidly as possible includes NICE issuing guidance on drugs to treat Alzheimer’s and other dementia diseases as quickly as it can.

My Lords, I am astounded that my noble friend should say that the amount of funds devoted to research into this terrible disease is significant. It is insignificant by any standards, and I am astonished that she should make that claim in this House. No Government have a good record on dementia. I welcome their recent announcement that they are developing a national dementia strategy. Nevertheless, the real requirement now is for a massive injection of funds, because with them, anything is possible. Without them, dementia will remain for ever the pathetic orphan of medicine. That simply will not do in this House.

My Lords, the point that I was making to my noble friend was that the increase from £5.9 million to £29 million in 10 years is significant. There is absolutely no doubt that more funding needs to be found and will be found. The other point that I was making is that there is no point putting in extra money if the research base does not provide the highest quality science that we need to deal with this dreadful condition.

My Lords, is that not the problem? Although the money that we are putting in seems a lot, the Americans are putting in £64 million for the equivalent of our population. We are putting in £29 million. Is it not essential to see that young scientists are encouraged to enter this field? Unless we can get young scientists interested in this, we will not have a succession of people who can do the necessary research.

My Lords, the noble Baroness is absolutely right, as she often is. That is part of why the national strategy is so important. One of its key aims is to raise awareness in the medical professions of the importance of this disease and the importance of combating it.

My Lords, I declare an interest similar to that of the noble Baroness, Lady Perry, in that I am also a patron of the national advisory group on Alzheimer’s—the Alzheimer’s Research Trust. Is my noble friend aware that that trust, which does not receive public money, is forced to turn away about two out of three of the research applications that are put to it because of lack of resources? Drawing on her point about making the case for doing something on the basis of cancer research, is it not unfortunate that an organisation of that kind is so economically disadvantaged?

My Lords, that is very unfortunate. As part of the strategy that was announced by my honourable friend the Minister last month, a dementia research summit will be held in the autumn to bring together the key stakeholders, particularly the relevant charities and voluntary organisations, so that they can take an active part in developing the future research agenda. I am absolutely certain that they will make that point very clearly indeed.

My Lords, I do not have a detailed figure for that. I will find out and write to the noble Baroness.

My Lords, roughly what is spent on research per patient in this country compared, for example, with the United States or Australia?

Again, my Lords, I do not have that detail. The London School of Economics and the National Audit Office recently produced a report on international comparisons in dementia, but I received it only this morning. The amount of money that is being put into the care of people with long-term illnesses such as dementia means that we are about average. I will find out how our research base fares, let the noble Baroness have that and put it in the Library.

My Lords, does the noble Baroness concur with the statistic that the number of people over the age of 65 is likely to increase by 60 per cent before 2025, in which I suppose I declare a rather miserable interest?

My Lords, all I can say is that the noble Earl becomes more distinguished the older he gets. He is right that, because of the increase in the number of elderly people, the number of people with dementia will double to 1.4 million in the next 30 years. That is why this is an important issue and why we must have a strategy for dealing with it.