New treatments offer the chance to consign dementia to the history books

Daily Record

3 days ago

In Scotland there are 90,000 people living with dementia.
And increasingly this is a disease which affects not just the very old, with 3000 people under 65 also suffering.
There can be few families across Scotland unaffected with many of us either facing the illness ourselves or looking after those in its grip.
Our health and social sector also faces an ever-growing demand for specialist dementia care, with six out of 10 of
those in care homes diagnosed with the illness.
For sufferers and their families, this can be a devastating illness to deal with as loved ones must deal with distressing symptoms.
But this has also become a major political issue as governments face the consequences of an ageing population.
It is no exaggeration to say that dealing with dementia and its effects is one of the biggest challenges facing the entire Western world.
But now, at last, there is hope on the horizon. There are more than 100 new drugs which could halt dementia's development.
And a new scientific paper reported in today's Daily Record states that we are now at the 'start of a journey to a cure'.
The study goes into detail on the treatments going through clinical trials, with many of them able to reverse or even eliminate symptoms.
It may be some time before such drugs are widely available so it would be wrong to think we have won this battle.
But all of us will be watching and hoping that one day soon dementia is consigned to the history books.
Banks too slow to stop the scammers
ONLINE scams are a massive growth industry for criminals around the globe.
And they are constantly on the look-out for new victims.
Today we reveal how one grandad, Raymond Lumsden, responded to an online ad offering high returns for investors.
He used his life savings to plough cash into the scheme.
It was all a scam, leaving Raymond devastated.
But the most worrying thing about this story was that Raymond's bank was too slow to respond to multiple red flags that this was a big con.
National Fraud Helpline solicitors are now on the case and they believe that banks need to be more alert to potential scams.
We all need to be careful when online offers look to good to be true.
But our bankers also need to up their game to keep our money safe.