A study conducted by a team of researchers from the University has revealed that Britain spends the second most money treating dementia in Europe.
Forty per cent of all dementia research funding in fifteen european countries was undertaken by the UK.
Over two-thirds of the £165 billion was provided by families and friends, who collectively paid £112 billion to care for their loved ones. The bulk of the remaining cost was attributed to social care, predominantly in residential and nursing homes.
On the issue of social care, Dr Luengo-Fernandez, who spearheaded the research, said: “Social care has always been the forgotten bit of the healthcare system. As it’s funding in the UK is not centralised – bits of funding come from Whitehall, others from local authorities, some of it is private, it has probably not received the required attention.”
The study was reported in the Journal of Alzheimer’s Disease, and was funded by Alzheimer’s Research UK.
