When Fiona Phillips first mentioned that she was quitting her TV sofa because she was shattered, I had an inkling about the real reason behind it all.

I didn’t think it was just to spend more time with her two sons, 4 and 9, because she would have left earlier if that had been bothering her.

But when she said she also wanted to care for her elderly father, I guessed that was the main reason, and that he was probably suffering from dementia, and she wanted/needed to spend more time with him.

Fiona has given a frank interview in the Sunday Times today describing how her mother died two years ago after suffering from Alzheimer’s for seven years. Her father has been diagnosed as suffering from it too.

He was living in Wales, so all the travelling and 4am starts were, understandably, too much for Fiona, and she is moving him to a sheltered home closer to London following the deterioration of his condition.

I applaud Fiona for highlighting this very common difficulty, how it has affected her life, a problem which thousands of other families are facing too – and which government ignores. As a Labour supporter who gets to meet leading politicians, Fiona has had opportunities to bend the ear of Tony Blair and Gordon Brown.

"A Labour supporter, she used her off-screen time with Blair and Brown to tell them what a bad job politicians make of getting their message across, which Brown, whom she describes as “a really, really decent man”, clearly took on board. He called her on the day she resigned and last year tried to coopt her as part of his “government of all the talents” as a health minister, responsible for communicating policy, in the Lords.

"Becoming Baroness Phillips did not appeal, partly because she is opposed to the honours system and partly because she’d be swapping one set of ridiculous working hours for another. But she is keen to take an active part in putting together the government’s strategy on dementia, which will be launched next month."

Fiona, here are a few points I would like you to mention when you next see Gordon. I hope they will be included in the government’s strategy on dementia.

"Respect", is a buzz word which politicians are using regularly today, mainly with regards to young people who have no idea what it is. I would suggest that government shows respect to our elderly, and those particularly who are suffering from dementia, the honest hard working people who have paid taxes all their lives, only to be considered "too expensive" to care for in their old age. Many of them have probably never used the National Health Service in their lives, yet when they need it, they may find they are denied the care and medication they need on grounds of cost.

And Fiona, please suggest that Gordon seeks advice from other carers too who cannot afford to give up their job like you. He should meet these families and learn from their personal experiences and traumas about their needs.

Also, please ask Gordon why it is that if he can find money to pay for nursery education for every two-year-old, why he can’t find money to support research into this soul-destroying and devastating illness. This is desperately needed to find ways to cure, prevent or treat Alzheimer’s disease and related dementias..

Most people are not financially able to give up their job to spend time with a parent who is suffering from a degenerative illness like Alzheimer’s, particularly as it often happens at a time when teenagers are heading off to university, causing additional cash restraints on hard up families.

According to the excellent Alzheimer’s Research Trust:

• There are 700,000 people living with dementia in the UK today, a number forecast to double within a generation.
• 25 million people, or 42% of the UK population, are affected by dementia through knowing a close friend or family member with the condition.
• Only £11 is spent on UK research into Alzheimer’s for every person affected by the disease, compared with £289 for cancer patients.
• It receives no government funding.

Finally, I wonder what would happen if Baroness Warnock found herself suffering from dementia after her very cold and heartless statement this week. Could she have said the following about her own mother?

"If you’re demented, you’re wasting people’s lives – your family’s lives – and you’re wasting the resources of the National Health Service.

"I’m absolutely, fully in agreement with the argument that if pain is insufferable, then someone should be given help to die, but I feel there’s a wider argument that if somebody absolutely, desperately wants to die because they’re a burden to their family, or the state, then I think they too should be allowed to die."

I believe a society is judged by how it cares for its vulnerable – and that includes those suffering from dementia.

Fiona says what she would most like to see changed is access to medical information. My mother is not as well as she used to be and my sister who lives next door to her ALWAYS goes to the doctors with her, and I do too on important occasions. That way we are both kept fully informed about her medical condition. This is not the problem as far as I am concerned, but I can understand that it is for those who do not live nearby.

Again, I repeat, the priority should be government support for research to provide medication which will help provide improved quality of life for those suffering from dementia.

Fiona is worried that one day she might suffer from Alzheimer’s too, that it could be hereditary.  According to the ART, only  1% of rare cases are caused by inherited factors alone. But if one parent is affected, the child will have a 50% chance of inheriting the gene. Except for these purely hereditary cases, there is currently no genetic test that can tell you if you are likely to develop Alzheimer’s.

If research enabled a genetic test to be available, followed by correct medication, that would ultimately save the government considerable money and improve the quality of life for sufferers.

The truth is, this could happen to any of us. And how would we like to be cared for?