Charities Call for “Cancer-Style Revolution” in Dementia Care
Dementia care has been branded as “stuck in the 20th century” in a new report calling for a transformation on the scale of the progress achieved in cancer treatment over the past half-century.
The King’s Fund and Alzheimer’s Society have jointly published a blueprint urging the Government, NHS and social care leaders to replicate the strides made in cancer care, where survival rates have almost doubled since the early 1970s, when a diagnosis was widely regarded as a death sentence.
The report identifies the factors that transformed cancer outcomes — strong leadership, shifting public attitudes, clear diagnostic and treatment targets, and better-quality data — as the template dementia services should now follow. With UK dementia prevalence projected to rise from one million to 1.4 million by 2040, and the annual cost to the economy expected to double to £90 billion over the same period, the organisations warn that progress must happen far more quickly than it did for cancer.
Stark gap in patient experience
A survey of 1,000 dementia carers commissioned as part of the report found a significant gap between experiences of dementia and cancer care. Among the quarter of respondents able to compare the two directly, 51% rated their experience of dementia care as worse, against just 11% who rated it better.
Sarah Woolnough, Chief Executive of The King’s Fund, said cancer was once feared as a “death sentence” but has since seen a remarkable turnaround in outcomes. She said the same transformation has not yet reached dementia care, warning that approaches remain “stuck in the 20th century.” Woolnough said recent scientific advances offer hope of a similar revolution in dementia treatment, but stressed this can only be realised if the health and care system is equipped to diagnose dementia quickly and roll out new treatments at scale — something she said is currently far from the case.
Michelle Dyson, Chief Executive of Alzheimer’s Society, contrasted the clear diagnostic and treatment pathway offered to cancer patients with the experience of many people with dementia, who can wait years for a diagnosis and are often left with little more than a leaflet afterwards. Drawing on her previous role as a Director General at the Department of Health and Social Care, Dyson said she has seen what proper targets, investment, leadership and accountability can achieve when a condition is made a national priority, and called for the same commitment to dementia. She described dementia as the UK’s biggest killer and said the country cannot afford to wait 50 years for equivalent progress.
A “dementia tsar” for change
The report comes as the Government prepares to appoint a national “dementia tsar”, a role the charities say offers a genuine opportunity to drive lasting change, echoing the impact of the first National Cancer Director, appointed in 1999.
That post was held by Professor Sir Mike Richards, who oversaw three successive national cancer strategies and has backed the new report. Sir Mike recalled being asked, early in his career, why he wanted to work in a field with so little hope. He said the progress since made in cancer demonstrates what sustained investment, collaboration and leadership can achieve, and that clear pathways, timed targets and a national tracking registry remain central to that success today. He said dementia now deserves the same ambition, and called on patients, clinicians, health service managers, academics, charities and industry — alongside sustained political will — to work together to deliver lasting change.
The report was launched ahead of a panel discussion at the Alzheimer’s Society’s Annual Conference, where Woolnough, Dyson and Sir Mike were due to discuss the lessons cancer care can offer dementia services going forward.
