A new fund of £50m to create calming environments for people with dementia, which aid treatment by helping sufferers to avoid confusion, will be announced on Thursday by the health secretary Jeremy Hunt.
The money will be available to NHS trusts and local authorities working in partnership with social care providers to help tailor hospitals and care homes to the needs of those with dementia.
Hunt’s aides claim that the announcement puts the care of sufferers at the heart of his priorities in a week when abusive workers from Winterbourne View care home are sentenced for assaulting elderly and frail patients.
But critics point out that the money will make an insignificant impact upon the key problem within the sector. It does not address long term funding for thousands of sufferers who need constant care but are increasingly left to fend for themselves in the private sector.
