Next PM faces dementia ‘time bomb’, warns millionaire

DEMENTIA will have a “traumatic economic impact” on the NHS if Theresa May’s successor fails to improve care, according to a businessman who lost both of his parents to Alzheimer’s.

Laurence Geller, who has given more than £4million towards dementia care and research, claimed the UK was facing a “massive ticking time bomb”, with dementia now a “global pandemic”.

Writing for telegraph.co.uk, Mr Geller suggested that the £56billion budget for the High Speed 2 rail line should be diverted into research on preventing or curing Alzheimer’s and other causes of dementia.

He added: “Society must recognise that care must for the time being at least be parallel with cure.

“Our priorities must recognise that significant national funds must be put into care at all levels if short-termism is not to lead to dramatically increased financial pressure on the NHS, families, and society as a whole.”

Mr Geller, an ambassador for the Alzheimer’s Society who founded a care home in west London for dementia sufferers, said the population had a “duty” to improve care for those with related diseases.

“As our country handles an ever-ageing population and the ‘baby boomer’ bubble exacerbates the problems, it is only right to venerate our ageing for what they have given us,” he said.

“We must not shunt them aside, ignore them, hide them from view behind locked doors. We must make their lives so much better … They deserve celebration, dignity and a rightful share of society’s wealth that they played such an important part in creating.”