Now our petition soars past 160,000

THE Daily Mail’s dementia campaign was praised in Parliament yesterday as signatures on the petition to end the care costs scandal surged past 160,000.

Pressure is building on Boris Johnson to publish plans to reform the dementia care system early in his tenure as Prime Minister. The Mail is calling on Mr Johnson to make the issue an urgent priority.

Key to this will be setting up a cross-party group to examine all options for funding dementia care, bringing an end to the political bickering which has driven previous attempts at reform into the long grass.

Speaking during health questions in the Commons yesterday, former Labour minister Ivan Lewis said: ‘I don’t always agree with the Daily Mail but aren’t they right when they say we now need a national dementia fund and an all-party approach to defining the nature and funding of the social care system in this country?

‘Successive governments have failed in this country and older people, disabled people and their families are being let down as a consequence. When will we see some action?’ Health minister Stephen Hammond insisted a green paper on social reform, which has been delayed six times since it was promised in March 2017, would be delivered ‘shortly’.

Veteran Labour MP Dennis Skinner said: ‘Dementia comes in many different forms. My mother had one form and it lasted a number of years, but it finally took hold.

‘My sister went within a short time because she wouldn’t eat at all.’ Mr Hammond replied: ‘I know from personal experience that dementia affects people in different ways. I’m proud to work for a government that is committed to make England the best country in the world for dementia care.’

Meanwhile, support for the Mail’s petition continued to grow. It was only launched on Saturday and yesterday another 40,000 added their signatures to take the total past 160,000.

The petition was started by Mail reader Sharon Muranyi, 59, who this month sold her 92-year-old father Fred Hickman’s cottage to pay for his dementia care. Sally Copley, director of policy at the Alzheimer’s Society, which is leading support for the Mail’s campaign, said: ‘With the Daily Mail now backing our call for a dementia fund, Boris Johnson must make good on his promise to solve the dementia care crisis.’