Prime Minister launches national mission to tackle dementia

Boris Johnson has launched a national mission to tackle dementia and double research funding to £160m a year by 2024, in memory of the late Dame Barbara Windsor.

Dame Barbara’s husband, Scott Mitchell, met with the Prime Minister earlier this week at Downing Street. They discussed the significant suffering caused by dementia and the slow process of finding treatments and cures.

In response, the Prime Minister has launched the ‘Dame Barbara Windsor Dementia Mission,’ in honour of Dame Barbara and the millions of other people and their loved ones who have had their lives ruined by dementia.

An additional £95 million in ringfenced funding will support the national mission, boosting the number of clinical trials and innovative research projects.

This will help meet the manifesto commitment to double dementia research funding by 2024, reaching a total of £160 million a year.

The mission will be driven by a new taskforce, bringing together industry, the NHS, academia and families living with dementia.

By speeding up the clinical trial process, more hypotheses and potential treatments can be tested for dementia and other neurodegenerative diseases.

Prime Minister, Boris Johnson said: ‘Dame Barbara Windsor was a British hero. I had the pleasure of meeting her both on the set of Eastenders as Peggy Mitchell, and at Downing Street as we discussed the injustices faced by dementia sufferers.

‘I am delighted that we can now honour Dame Barbara in such a fitting way, launching a new national dementia mission in her name.

‘Working with her husband Scott, and on behalf of everyone who is living with dementia or has a loved one affected by this devastating condition, I am doubling research funding and calling for volunteers to join ‘Babs’ Army.’ We can work together to beat this disease and honour an exceptional woman who campaigned tirelessly for change.’

One million people are predicted to be living with dementia by 2025, and 1.6 million by 2040. Up to 40% of dementia cases are potentially preventable but causes are still poorly understood.

Scott Mitchell, Dame Barbara’s husband, said: ‘The first in 15 Prime Ministers and over 70 years to grasp the nettle and reform social care, I’m so pleased that Boris had the conviction to do this reform. I’m so honoured that not only has he reformed social care, but he’s also committed this new money in Barbara’s name to make the necessary research breakthroughs to find a cure for dementia.

‘Barbara would be so proud that she has had this legacy which will hopefully mean that families in the future won’t have to go through the same heart-breaking experience that she and I had to endure. I can’t stop thinking about her looking down with pride.’

Photo by Robina Weermeijer