Alzheimer’s Disease and other forms of dementia present the greatest medical challenge of the 21st century, warns a major report.

A staggering 820,000 people – more than the population of Leeds – are affected by dementia, costing the UK economy £23 billion a year. That’s twice the cost of cancer, three times the cost of heart disease and four times the cost of stroke.

With our population living longer than ever before, dementia is touching the lives of increasing numbers of people. The issue has been highlighted by author and Alzheimer’s sufferer Sir Terry Pratchett, who this week suggested that a ‘tribunal’ should be set up to give seriously-ill people permission to get help to die.

Yet dementia research remains woefully underfunded compared to illnesses like cancer.

The new report, commissioned by the Alzheimer’s Research Trust, reveals that the impact of dementia on our society and economy has been significantly underestimated. The report, Dementia 2010, says each dementia patient costs the British economy more than the average salary and five times more than the average cancer patient. Yet for every £1 million in care costs, £129,269 is spent on cancer research, £73,153 on heart disease research, £8,745 on stroke research and just £4,882 on dementia research.

Combined Government and charitable investment in dementia research is 12 times lower than that for cancer.

Rebecca Wood, chief executive of the Alzheimer’s Research Trust, says: “The true impact of dementia has been ignored for too long. The UK’s dementia crisis is worse than we feared.”

Ruth Gallagher, manager of Bradford Alzheimer’s Society, says: “We have known for a long time that experience of dementia is a much bigger problem than people thought, which is why the Dementia Strategy was formed by the Department of Health to reach more people.”

Ruth hopes the Dementia 2010 report will prompt a greater focus on the cost of care. “Some people seem to be pleased with the support they get, but others feel they don’t get enough. There are people who fall through the net,” she says. “You have to be fairly upfront in asking for help. It is an enormous hump to get over to say, ‘I cannot manage’.”

She says that some carers may not ask for help, because they feel they can cope or are simply used to coping. Others who manage to secure home care are sometimes overwhelmed by what they see as an ‘invasion’ of people in the home and end up stopping the process.

She says carers who opt for private care can be paying up to £27,000 per year and, with more people being diagnosed at a younger age, the focus needs to be on longer-term care.

Ruth says Bradford Council is looking at increasing the provision of care in the homes of dementia sufferers as part of a ten-year plan.

“The Council is looking at all their care homes and care systems and they have a plan to bring more care into people’s homes, but there comes a point where people cannot do that. It is becoming important that dementia is recognised as an illness, not something that just needs ‘social’ care.”

Alison Dennison’s 58-year-old husband, Andrew, was diagnosed with cerebral vasculitis, a brain disease with similar symptoms to dementia, two years ago.

“Anything which affects peoples’ personalities is viewed with huge suspicion because we don’t understand it. You can’t see into the brain and how it works,” says Alison.

A retired teacher from Shipley, Alison wants more respite care tailored for younger sufferers.

“There is nowhere where younger people can go for respite – where they cater for people who are in their 40s and 50s, not 70s and 80s,” says Alison. “It hit us when we were expecting to be enjoying the end of our working lives. It is high time people realise what is happening – and that it is happening to younger and younger people.”

Alison praised the Alzheimer’s Society and Help The Aged for their support. “Without them, people like me would not have been able to cope,” she says.

Hearing about the experiences of carers like Alison, and the valuable support provided by Bradford Alzheimer’s Society, prompted Councillor Howard Middleton to choose the society as his mayoral charity while he was Lord Mayor of Bradford last year.

He welcomed the Dementia 2010 report as “tackling the stigma” of dementia and highlighting its impact on society. “People are now seeing that it’s important and it’s affecting millions of people,” he says. “It is recognising the size of the problem and realising that people can do something about it.

- For more about information and support available for sufferers of Alzheimer’s and other forms of dementia, and their carers, ring Bradford Alzheimer’s Society on (01274) 733880 or visit alzheimers.org.uk.