Swan urges ‘radical action’ to combat dementia crisis

Mr Robin Swann, the North Antrim Ulster Unionist Party Assembly member and Chairman of the Stormont Employment and Learning Committee, has called on the health minister to “urgently implement an action plan to combat dementia” after it emerged the constituency has the highest level of sufferers across Northern Ireland.

Assemblyman Swann, who is also UUP Chief Whip, issued his challenge to the health minister after he received “alarming statistics” from the charity, the Alzheimer’s Society, which showed that there are 1,307 people living with dementia in North Antrim, the highest number in any constituency in Northern Ireland.

This has also prompted Mr Swann to table three written questions to the health minister “to get this crisis resolved and urgently needed help obtained both for those suffering from dementia as well as those who have to care for dementia sufferers, especially in their own homes”.

In his questions, Mr Swann asked the minister: “What services are currently provided for people living with Dementia in North Antrim? What support his Department provides to the Alzheimer’s Society? And if he has any plans to review the service provided for people living with Dementia in North Antrim?”

Mr Swann added: “This is a very serious crisis and the minister needs to act quickly to alleviate the problem in North Antrim before it becomes an epidemic.”