Joy over pledge on dementia care bid

A councillor deeply affected by the tragedy of dementia says she “can’t wait” to see new plans to tackle the illness on the Fylde coast.
Welcome news: Coun Fabian Craig-Wilson, below, has welcomed plans to provide better care for people suffering with dementiaWelcome news: Coun Fabian Craig-Wilson, below, has welcomed plans to provide better care for people suffering with dementia
Welcome news: Coun Fabian Craig-Wilson, below, has welcomed plans to provide better care for people suffering with dementia

Coun Fabian Craig-Wilson has long campaigned for Lancashire County Council to offer better services for people suffering from the incurable disease, and says she is “absolutely thrilled” that an announcement is set to be made on the subject by the end of the month.

Coun Craig Wilson, the Tory representative for St Annes South on the authority, put forward a notice of motion at Thursday’s full council meeting echoing past calls she had made for a dementia “centre of excellence” to be founded at Bowgreave Rise, in Garstang.

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While that initial motion, put forward in December, was defeated, the authority’s Labour administration has now pledged to put concrete plans for the care of dementia sufferers in place by the end of the month.

Coun Fabian Craig WilsonCoun Fabian Craig Wilson
Coun Fabian Craig Wilson

Speaking to The Gazette after the meeting, Coun Craig-Wilson, who lost her husband John to the illness last summer, said: “I’m absolutely thrilled.

“It shows everybody has come together on the council and recognise the importance of providing great care for people with dementia.

Dementia affects everybody differently so the care that we offer and the support we give has to be tailored to those individual needs, which is quite a challenge.

“That’s what we can strive to achieve now.”

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Last year a £5m budget was announced by the council to improve services for people suffering from the illness.

Coun Tony Martin, the county council’s cabinet member for adult and community services, told the meeting at County Hall, in Preston, that he hoped to be in a position to put concrete plans for the future of dementia care in place by the end of the month.

He said: “I do believe the time has come for us to be able to put a timescale on this.”