The ‘astronomical’ costs of dementia care could take over one hundred years to save for, a mental health charity warns.
An investigation by the Alzheimer’s Society has revealed that it would take an individual 125 years to save enough to pay for the typical costs of dementia care.
The charity also warned this bill will topple ‘generation rent’, who have fewer assets than previous generations, and are at higher risk of developing dementia as people continue to live longer.
The findings are published along with an Ipsos Mori consultation, commissioned by the Alzheimer’s Society, called Turning up the Volume: Unheard Voices of People with Dementia.
The consultation revealed nearly half (47%) of the UK adults aged between 16-75 years old questioned have not started saving for the care and support they might need in the future, and over a third (37%) agreed that before being asked, they had not considered the cost of dementia care and support.
When asked whether the Government should pay for their care and support if they developed dementia, more than half (54%) of UK adults interviewed agreed that the Government should pay, while just 5% disagreed.
‘Dementia is a disease, as cancer is a disease, as heart disease is a disease. Getting dementia shouldn’t mean families are left bankrupt or destitute with nothing to leave behind,’ said Jeremy Hughes, chief executive of Alzheimer’s Society.
‘The social care crisis is a dementia crisis. Many people with dementia and their families are buckling under the inordinate pressure of propping up a failing social care system that has been starved of funding for decades.
‘Too many people are forced to give up everything they own in order to care day in and day out for their mother, father, husband or wife.”
‘Repeatedly governments have failed to put a long term plan in place. On behalf of people with dementia, I challenge the next Government to create a long term, sustainable system for funding dementia care.
