Kate Lee, the chief executive of the Alzheimer’s Society, describes herself as a good Yorkshire girl, “What you see is what you get”. I last interviewed her in the dark days of December 2020 as people living with dementia in care homes became virtual prisoners, their relatives only allowed to see them through windows.

Most of those with dementia, who account for over 70pc of care home residents, had no idea what was happening, why their loved ones no longer came to see them, they felt abandoned, alone, frightened. No one was more aware of this at the time than Kate, whose mum Barbara was diagnosed with vascular dementia 18 years ago and now lives in a care home. 

In this week’s episode, Kate and I talk about her mum and how the long months of lockdowns impacted on her and her dad, who still “flirts terribly” with her mum after 60 years of marriage.  

We also discuss the terrible toll of Covid on care homes, their residents and staff – and the Alzheimer’s Society’s call for better pay reward and recognition within the care system to ensure that it is seen as a respected profession with proper career progression. 

Kate describes how the society is partnering with others to introduce innovations such as the Longitude Prize to drive the creation of personalised, technical solutions co-created with people living with early stage dementia to help them live more independent, fulfilling lives. 

She tells me about their new Help and Hope strategy to ensure their services reach communities who have traditionally not had access to dementia support, and about the need for volunteers to enter clinical trials during the early stages of their symptoms. 

Kate bemoans the prevarication and delay confounding progress in the largest healthcare crisis of our time. We need leadership and action, she says, not “existential dementia faff”.

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