In the past 5 years there has been an increase in diagnoses of dementia by 40% in the UK. A number of areas have seen those patients with dementia on their register more than double during this period. The cause of this increase is likely to be related to the increased drive by clinicians to diagnose patients with dementia more readily and an ageing population.
The Conservative Party placed finding a solution to dementia as one of their priorities in their manifesto with pledges to double research funding and speed up trials for new treatment.