'Help us help the sick and needy'

With a million more people expected to develop dementia in the next decade, Bradford Alzheimer’s Society wants the next government to tackle the growing social and financial impact.

Services administrator Rachel Exley said: “We are calling all parties to adopt a set of three key commitments. The first is to develop a new care system that guarantees people with dementia receive good quality care at a fair price.

“They currently pay huge amounts for essential care, such as help with washing and eating. We want a new system of social care funding that doesn’t discriminate against people with dementia.

“Secondly, we want dementia research to be a higher priority. It is severely under-funded in comparison to other major diseases, such as heart disease or cancer.

“The third commitment is keeping attendance allowance, the non-means-tested benefit for disabled people aged 65, used by people with dementia and their carers to make choices about the care and support they need.”

Both the ageing population and childhood obesity are at the forefront of campaigning by the British Heart Foundation, which wants preventative measures and better cardiac rehabilitation on the political agenda.

The charity’s ‘wish list’ for the next government includes public health measures to help consumers make healthy food choices. “We want traffic light colours on food labelling, implementing the Food Standards Agency’s model, enabling shoppers to make ‘at-a-glance’ decisions,” says advocacy manager Julia Toft. “We’re also calling for a ban on advertising junk food before the 9pm TV watershed. There are ads for high-sugar and fat foods in ad breaks of shows like X Factor and Britain’s Got Talent, which children watch.

“One of the key messages for politicians is that tackling heart disease isn’t a ticked box. Although mortality has been reduced, more people are living with heart disease, which remains the UK’s biggest killer.

“We want better-quality cardiac rehabilitation, which includes a diet and exercise programme. By 2015 we want every heart patient offered this.”

While the BHF welcomes the smoke-free legislation it lobbied for, it wants a crackdown on tobacco smuggling resulting in cheap cigarette sales.

For Marie Curie Cancer Care, patient choice and palliative care should be election priorities. Jane Edgeley, manager of the Bradford Marie Curie Hospice, said: “We want the next government to make it possible for everyone with cancer and other illnesses to have the high-quality care and support they need at the end of their life in the place of their choice.”

While the financial benefits of the voluntary and community sector are recognised by all major parties, they should be looking beyond this and placing more value on volunteers themselves, says Anthony Clipsom, director of Bradford Community and Voluntary Service (CVS).

“Volunteers put something into the community and make things better, be it the environment, children’s education or care of the elderly,” he says.

While it’s unlikely that in the current financial climate the next government will provide more grant funding for voluntary centres, Mr Clipsom says greater usage can be made of centres by statutory services on a full-cost basis.

“Not only does this bring services to people in their communities, it allows centres to earn more, when grant income is increasingly stretched.”

A crucial election issue for Living Streets, which runs walk-to-school campaigns, traffic surveys and street audits in Bradford, is providing safe, pleasant streets, encouraging more people to walk.

The pedestrians’ charity wants parliamentary candidates to make a pledge for better streets, focusing on getting more children walking to school and creating walkable towns and cities.

“We’re less active and our health is suffering for it,” says chief executive Tony Armstrong. “We need to think about planning places around people to revive our communities, returning our streets to the social spaces they once were.”