The government has launched a scheme to tackle dementia and doubled research funding in memory of the late Barbara Windsor.  

It comes after Dame Barbara’s husband, Scott Mitchell, met Boris Johnson at Downing Street and outlined the significant suffering caused by dementia and the slow process of finding treatments and cures.  

This led to the ‘Dame Barbara Windsor Dementia Mission’ in honour of Dame Barbara and the millions of other people and their loved ones who have had their lives ruined by dementia.  

The mission will be driven by a new taskforce, bringing together industry, the NHS, academia and families living with dementia. By speeding up the clinical trial process, and doubling research funding to £160 million a year by 2024, more hypotheses and potential treatments can be tested for dementia and other neurodegenerative diseases. 

Mr Johnson said: “Dame Barbara Windsor was a British hero. I had the pleasure of meeting her both on the set of Eastenders as Peggy Mitchell, and at Downing Street as we discussed the injustices faced by dementia sufferers.”   

One million people are predicted to be living with dementia by 2025, and 1.6 million by 2040. Up to 40% of dementia cases are potentially preventable but causes are still poorly understood. Dementia can affect the brain years before people show any symptoms, which means treatments need to be tested on people far earlier.  

It’s good to see more effort being made to tackle dementia but there are also steps we can all make to protect our interests if our health fails in the future. 

Thousands of people draw up Lasting Powers of Attorney (LPA) every year. 

An LPA is a legal document that you can register when you are fit and healthy, authorising someone you choose to make decisions on your behalf if you are no longer able to do so yourself at some point in the future.  

The property and finance LPA allows you to appoint someone to look after your financial affairs, and the personal welfare LPA lets you grant an attorney authority over such matters as health care and the kind of treatment you receive.   

They are easy to set up with the help of an expert solicitor and once registered, they provide you with the peace of mind that comes from knowing that if anything untoward should happen to impair your decision-making, your interests will be looked after by someone you trust.  

If you would like more information or advice about the issues raised in this article, or any aspect of family law please contact our expert legal team on 02080040065, by email at [email protected] or using the form below.

The contents of this article are general information only. The information in this article is not legal or professional advice. The law may have changed since this article was published. Readers should not act on the basis of the information included and should obtain independent expert advice from qualified solicitors such as those within our firm.