Dementia, suffered by more than 820,000 people costs the economy an estimated £23 billion a year and has a relatively modest £50 million spent on research, against cancer costing £12 billion and having £590 million spent, and heart disease costing £8 billion and having £169 million spent on research.

These figures are from a report, Dementia 2010 produced by Oxford University and commissioned by the Alzheimer’s Research Trust which warns that dementia is the nation’s greatest health challenge, and one that will beat us unless we invest now.