Alliance set up to tackle dementia

Businesses, community groups and the public sector are joining forces in the new alliance called York Dementia Without Walls which is being launched at the city council’s headquarters at West Offices.

The Joseph Rowntree Foundation, tourism leaders from Visit York, British Transport Police 
and firms including Specsavers are among the organisations which have pledged to tackle 
the growing problem of 
dementia.

York Council is among the first authorities in the country to sign up to a national pilot to create “dementia friendly” communities.

The cabinet member for health, housing and adult social services, Coun Tracey Simpson-Laing, said: “We aim to meet the changing needs of an ageing population, enabling elderly residents to live in their own homes and communities for longer.”

In North Yorkshire alone, it is estimated that almost 11,500 people are living with dementia, with 60 per cent of cases going undiagnosed.

That figure is expected to rise by 39 per cent to nearly 16,000 sufferers by 2021.