MP Jim Dickson opens up about his mother's dementia

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Transcript

00:00In many ways it's been it was alarming and shocking as it always is when you get the diagnosis and

00:06you know there's a degree of trauma for the person concerned and I know my mother and my dad were

00:11both very shocked to hear that this was the case and started to fear the worst about the sort of

00:18life she was going to have. Six years later actually she's got quite a good quality of life

00:23and that is really a product of what I'm arguing for right across the NHS early and accurate

00:30diagnosis with the family members all involved and we you know you all work together as a team

00:36if you've got a loving and close family which I'm fortunate to have to make sure that person

00:41really is looked after and I think it's partly that partly the right drugs the fact that she

00:47lives in a good setting she's able to be at home with care on hand and with my dad supporting my

00:5293 year old dad flying the flag and helping where he can we've been able to I think manage it

00:59in as good a way as we possibly could so many other people who are on this journey and it is

01:07a difficult journey for the whole family aren't so fortunate either don't have the means to support

01:12someone at home weren't fortunate enough to have an early and accurate diagnosis and now have very

01:18limited choice about the type of setting in which their loved one will live the rest of their life

01:24so there's there's both positive and a warning for all of us in the way in which my mother's

01:30case was handled.