Today I met with Wallington resident Cassie Swift, who I reached out to after reading her moving article in the Sutton Guardian about her mother’s Alzheimer’s vascular dementia diagnosis.
Cassie’s story, which also features in the book ‘The Girls Who Refused to Quit’ alongside 14 other women, was shared in hope of inspiring other families to reach out for support when someone they know is diagnosed with dementia. My own family had to go through this with my Grandad, and it was one of the toughest times in our lives. Cassie and I, over Zoom, had the opportunity today to share similar stories of the pain families go through when you begin to recognise less of your loved one and sadly, they recognise less of you. Cassie shared how daunting that initial diagnosis is for the affected person and their family and what support she would like to see in place for families at the start of their dementia journey.
This includes raising more awareness in schools and with young people on what dementia is and how it affects families, as well as more accessible training on how to communicate with those living with dementia. I was pleased to her that Cassie is trained as a Dementia Friend and I look forward to my team and I also undergoing training as soon as COVID-19 restrictions allow.
Since becoming MP for Carshalton and Wallington over a year ago, I have consistently advocated for longer-term plans for social care reform, and I wrote about this recently for ConservativeHome. I raised the importance of this during a Westminster Hall debate on the effect of the COVID-19 outbreak on people affected by dementia back in November 2020. Sadly, COVID-19 has only exacerbated the already challenging environment of dementia care, resulting in many families not being able to have that vital contact time over the past 12 months. I am delighted that care home residents are now able to have one regular indoor visitor as part of the cautious easing of lockdown, with this hopefully increasing to two visitors as part of Step 2.
The Alzheimer’s Society and I regularly meet to discuss the need for long-term social care reform, and this is something I regularly raise with my ministerial colleagues. As a former NHS worker, the Alzheimer’s Society is correct that we need to see social care put on an equal footing with the NHS to provide our loved ones with the dignity they deserve in their final years. I look forward to seeing the publication of the Social Care Green Paper, which will hopefully deliver these reforms, as soon as possible.
You can read Cassie’s article in the Sutton Guardian here and thank you again to Cassie for sharing her story with me.