The Scottish Government has been challenged to set up a £15 million a year "change fund" to help local authorities and NHS boards unlock and redirect resources into early intervention and personalised support for people with dementia and their carers.

The call by Alzheimer Scotland follows this week's high profile publication of the Alzheimer's Research Trust report, Dementia 2010. It estimates that dementia currently costs in the region of £23 billion to the UK with much of that cost hidden, born by unpaid carers supporting people with dementia at home. At least 73,000 people in Scotland are estimated to be sufferers.

That appeal for more help for carers has been mirrored by calls on Westminster to dramatically increase research spending, which lags far behind the resources being ploughed in to cancer.

One Ross-shire activist, Judith Grant, an Alzheimer Scotland Council member who lives at Tarradale, said, "My own mother had it for around 10 years. I was in England then and joined a local support group at a time when awareness was not so high. The group was very helpful.

"Now you come across more and more people who have a relative with the disease. There was a time when it was like cancer which used to be referred to as 'the Big C'. Some of that stigma has gone now. The difference between Alzheimer's disease and cancer is that some cancers are curable."

Easter Ross MSP Jamie Stone said, "As a carer myself, albeit not for someone who suffers from dementia, I know all about this issue. As my party's public health spokesman I shall very gladly meet with Alzheimer Scotland and discuss how best to persuade the Scottish Government to come on board. In the meantime I'll urge the Cabinet Secretary for Health, Nicola Sturgeon, to take into full account Alzheimer Scotland's appeal as she finalises the Scottish Government's dementia strategy."

Highlands and Islands Labour MSP Rhoda Grant said, "By not providing adequate support to those who care for Alzheimer sufferers we risk increased costs. When the carer's health deteriorates society will have to find the resources to care for two people."

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