The Government is set to appoint the first national dementia tsar after charities urged ministers to treat the condition with the same seriousness as cancer.
The new recruit will be tasked with providing the ‘leadership, focus and accountability needed to drive change with urgency, ambition and sustained focus’, according to the job advert published today.
They will report directly to the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care and be paid £171,600 a year for the full-time role.
The new job was advertised just a few hours after social care minister Alison McGovern told the Alzheimer’s Society annual conference in London that ‘dementia has been neglected for far too long’.
Patients and their families are ‘too often left to navigate a shattered system at the most difficult time in their lives’, she added.
It comes almost three decades after Professor Sir Mike Richards was appointed as the first cancer tsar in 1999.
He went on to oversee three consecutive cancer strategies and has been credited with helping to improve care and survival rates.
Baroness Louise Casey, chair of the Independent Commission on Adult Social Care, called on the government to appoint a dementia tsar in March this year when she outlined her commission’s early recommendations.
Prime Minister Andy Burnham’s father had Alzheimer’s and died on September 14 aged 85
The new job was advertised just a few hours after social care minister Alison McGovern (pictured) told the Alzheimer’s Society annual conference in London that ‘dementia has been neglected for far too long’
Everyone experiences dementia differently. Use this checklist to help you make a note of your symptoms before you talk to your GP.
In a letter to then health secretary Wes Streeting, she advised ‘appointing a new, full-time dementia tsar who has national responsibility for driving forward the prevention, treatment and care of dementia’.
Speaking at today’s Alzheimer’s Society conference, Lady Casey welcomed the advert but criticised the government for taking so long to start the recruitment process and the speed at which it is implementing change.
She said: ‘For whatever reason nobody could move this fast enough.
‘We need to keep the pressure on.
‘It doesn’t take six months to work out that you need a tsar and what that tsar looks like – it’s one post!’
Writing in Thursday’s Daily Mail she had urged ministers to make dementia ‘Britain’s next great national mission – just as cancer was for previous generations’.
Michelle Dyson, chief executive of Alzheimer’s Society, has accused the NHS of treating dementia patients like ‘second class citizens’ who are often ‘cast aside’ with little more than a leaflet when diagnosed with the condition.
Contrasting this with cancer, she said: ‘If you have cancer, it is treated urgently, you get a specific diagnosis, and there is a clear pathway that takes you through your care and treatment.
Michelle Dyson (pictured), chief executive of Alzheimer’s Society, has accused the NHS of treating dementia patients like ‘second class citizens’ who are often ‘cast aside’ with little more than a leaflet when diagnosed with the condition
‘Government must make dementia a priority and learn what it can from cancer to create a future where dementia no longer devastates lives.’
Sir Mike echoed her views and added: ‘Dementia deserves the same ambition that has transformed cancer care. Now is the time to build momentum.’
The job advert, published on the Department of Health and Social Care website, says: ‘Dementia is one of the most significant health challenges facing the country. This role plays a part in supporting the Prime Minister’s commitment to fix the adult social care system.
‘With the full weight of the government behind it, the role will provide the leadership, focus and accountability needed to drive change with urgency, ambition and sustained focus.
‘This senior strategic appointment will set clear direction, bring partners together and accelerate delivery across government, the NHS, social care, research, life sciences and the voluntary sector.’
It says the successful applicant must have experience working in senior leadership roles with evidence of ‘influencing national policy, system reform or major public service delivery’.
But it adds ‘personal or professional insight into the impact of dementia on people with lived experience, families and unpaid carers’ is only ‘desirable’.
Ms Dyson added: ‘We welcome the start of the recruitment process for the Dementia Tsar, recommended by Baroness Casey.
‘This will help dementia at last receive the attention that is so desperately needed and long overdue.
‘A dementia tsar must be a catalyst for change and drive forward the progress we need in research, diagnosis and social care.
‘They must champion dementia as both an NHS and social care priority and have the power to bring together leaders across all sectors.
‘Above all they need to involve people living with dementia and their loved ones.
‘This is a real opportunity for the UK government to deliver on their commitments and change the future for people living with dementia.’
