Dementia Research in the UK

Margaret Ferrier Excerpts

Thursday 10th February 2022 Commons Chamber

[Margaret Ferrier (Rutherglen and Hamilton West) (Ind)]

I congratulate the hon. Member for Oldham East and Saddleworth (Debbie Abrahams) on securing today’s debate and on her continued work on this issue, which I know is appreciated by many throughout the House and beyond. It is a pleasure to follow the hon. Member for Bexhill and Battle (Huw Merriman); I enjoyed listening to the stories of his visits.

Dementia has a lasting impact on those who develop it and on their loved ones. While the patient begins to develop symptoms, maybe slowly at first, it may be frightening—memory loss, a struggle to communicate, mood swings, and a change in personality for reasons the person does not understand. Over the course of our lives we get to know ourselves very well, and losing that sense of self is incredibly sad. The impact on carers and family members must not be underestimated either. Depending on the level of severity, caring for someone with dementia can be a full-time 24/7 job, and that can be exhausting. A common feeling among carers is guilt—guilt that perhaps they cannot keep up; guilt that sometimes they resent their newly found role. It is human nature to be hard on ourselves.

About 90,000 people in Scotland are currently living with dementia, and that number is expected to increase to at least 120,000 over the next 20 years. The condition is prevalent, and numbers are rising. It is estimated that in the UK one in three people born this year will develop a form of dementia later in life. In South Lanarkshire, where my constituency sits, dementia is the leading cause of death for women, accounting for 16.2% of female deaths. That is a sobering statistic. Globally, there are now more people living with dementia than with cancer, which is why research on treatment, or a cure, is so important. There is still no effective treatment. We can see how investment in research has allowed scientists to make unprecedented breakthroughs in respect of cancer, for example: sustained funding for cancer research allowed scientists to understand it better, turning what was, at one point, seen as a death sentence into a chronic but manageable disease. However, the human brain is complex, and that plays a big part in why dementia remains so poorly understood. Research has historically suffered from under-investment, and sustained investment is vital if breakthroughs are to be made.

Let me draw another comparison with cancer research. There have been 74,000 cancer-related clinical trials since 2000, but fewer than 2,400 for Alzheimer’s. In the same timeframe, the Food and Drug Administration has approved 512 cancer drugs, but just six drugs for Alzheimer’s. The UK Government’s funding for cancer is almost three times higher than that for dementia. The pressure on the NHS cannot be ignored. More than one in four hospital beds are occupied by someone with dementia, and more than half of dementia patients will have at least one hospital admission each year.

[Bob Stewart]

It was the story from my friend, the hon. Member for Ochil and South Perthshire (John Nicolson), about his mother that twigged something in my memory. The real problem seems to be that the will to live disappears. People look normal, but they are just vacant. As an ex-soldier, having seen this with soldiers, I know that the will to live is crucial. When someone gives up the will to live, they are gone. We have to find a way of making sure that dementia sufferers keep the will to live because if that is vacant, it is gone. I think that is true but others might disagree.

[Margaret Ferrier]

I thank the right hon. and gallant Member for that intervention and the hon. Member for Ochil and South Perthshire (John Nicolson) for his story about his lovely mother—a really sparkling lady, who I remember seeing pictures of. It is very sad when people give up the will to live.

One in five hospital admissions are for potentially preventable reasons, such as a fall, infection or psychiatric difficulties. It is not all bleak though. There have been developments and we understand the disease better now than we did just a few years ago. New research from University College London and the University of Paris, published in The BMJ in December, found that those with two or more chronic health problems in middle age are more than twice as likely to develop dementia. That research was based on a long-term clinical trial showing how progress can be made if the resources are available.

I would like to mention the Glasgow Brain Injury Research Group based in the Queen Elizabeth University Hospital. The group looks at traumatic brain injuries, or TBIs, and the impact that they have on patients exposed to varying levels of severity of injury. It is pursuing an interesting workstream on the link between repetitive mild TBIs, incurred through sport such as football and rugby, and the increased risk of dementia. We all know of many famous footballers who have died from dementia, such as the great Billy McNeill. This is a fantastic piece of work and one of the many different research areas that could really deepen our understanding of how dementia occurs and develops and of subsequent treatment methods.

The medical community remains hugely optimistic. A survey of researchers at the UK Dementia Research Institute found that 90% of them felt that new treatments would be found within the next decade, and 72% held the opinion that the pace at which breakthroughs are being made is increasing. Vitally, though, 100% pressed the need for additional funding to allow breakthroughs to be made. They are the experts and we should listen.

Developments are already under way, but the key now is maintaining and accelerating the existing momentum. We have heard of the Join dementia research resource, which is piloting actively writing to all people with dementia after their diagnosis to invite them to participate in research. That would hugely benefit dementia research. In March 2021, Public Health Scotland revealed that less than half the people estimated to have had a new dementia diagnosis in 2018-19 were referred to vital post-diagnostic support. That outreach is essential. How will the Government support the JDR pilot and its roll-out across the four nations?

The lack of timely and accurate diagnosis is making it hard for current clinical trials to identify suitable candidates. The condition is severely underdiagnosed and the current backlog has only slowed things down even further. Transforming the current diagnostic process is pivotal. If diagnosis comes too late, we risk patients not being able to access treatments that might have helped to slow down its development.

The Government talk a lot about levelling up the UK, and I wonder whether that same attention could be given here. As part of the dementia strategy, the Government should invest in the development of multiple dementia clinical trial sites to form a network across the UK. Such a project would be in keeping with a true levelling-up agenda and make the UK an attractive centre for international life science investment. Better understanding of the disease leads to better support medically and emotionally. It will lessen the burdens on our frontline services. Early detection of the disease is crucial to allow patients to continue living independently and with dignity. That is one step that can be taken now. We need a stronger understanding among the general public about what to look out for and how to get help.

I wish to highlight the essential support provided by a number of charities for those with dementia and their support networks. They have also provided a wealth of knowledge to Members to support this debate, for which I am very grateful. Age Scotland, whose remit reaches much further, provides excellent support for older people in Scotland, as do Alzheimer’s Research UK, the Alzheimer’s Society, and Alzheimer Scotland, among many others. Charitable funding has become harder to come by over the past two years, and the work of those organisations in the face of that is invaluable and impressive. Their working commitment is commendable. The UK is a leader in biomedical research. That is something to be proud of, and something we must harness. I look forward to the Minister setting out today how plans for dementia research will be included in a national dementia strategy.

[Ms Lyn Brown (West Ham) (Lab)]

One of my constituents, in asking me to attend today’s debate and talk about dementia, mentioned that they did not feel that dementia is a sexy enough subject to get the funding for research. It is almost as if it is expected that most of us, at the end of our lives, will not be as sharp tacks in the box as we once were, and may therefore find it hard to attract the funding. Does the hon. Lady agree with my constituent?

[Margaret Ferrier]

I do not agree that people with dementia have nothing else to give to society. As the hon. Member for Bexhill and Battle mentioned, they have some great memory recall, and it can be good to work along with young people from schools. It is essential that we have funding to continue that work and research into dementia because as I said earlier, more and more of us may succumb to that terrible illness. I look forward to the Minister setting out how plans for dementia research will be included in a national dementia strategy, and how the Government are supporting the development of essential new technologies in that space.