TV presenter Ruth Langsford says she focuses on “living in the moment” with her mother, who is living with dementia, while calling for faster diagnosis and improved support for patients and families.
Langsford, who grew up in Surrey, said earlier diagnosis would help families better understand the condition and access care and support sooner.
The This Morning and Loose Women presenter shared her experience while caring for her 94-year-old mother, Joan, and reflecting on her late father Dennis, who also lived with dementia before his death in 2012.
Speaking to BBC Radio Surrey, she said: “I live in that moment with her because as soon as I walk out the door she doesn’t remember that I have been.”
Langsford added that getting a diagnosis is often the hardest part of the journey.
“The hardest thing is getting a diagnosis. Once you know what you are dealing with you can start to accept what is happening,” she said.
“It’s about awareness. Dementia changes all the time and not everyone’s is the same.”
She said she was grateful that her mother still recognises her, but described her father’s experience with the illness as deeply painful.
Langsford also noted that her mother Joan had cared for Dennis during his illness at the family home in Cornwall before later moving closer to her.
A report by the Alzheimer’s Society, where Langsford serves as an ambassador, found that dementia patients in the UK typically wait around three and a half years between first noticing symptoms and receiving a formal diagnosis.
Michelle Dyson, chief executive of the charity, said dementia care in the UK is “stuck in a system of delay, denial and neglect.”
She noted that while society has moved into an era of instant information, many people are still waiting far too long for a dementia diagnosis — despite the condition being one of the country’s leading causes of death.
“In the digital age of instant answers, people are still waiting far too long for a diagnosis of the country’s biggest killer,” she said. “That would never be tolerated in cancer care, yet for dementia it has become routine.”
Dyson added that patients are frequently missed at multiple stages of care, from early symptoms to diagnosis, with support often arriving too late to provide meaningful help.
“At every stage, people are missed. Symptoms are missed, diagnosis is delayed, and support often comes too late to be that lifeline so desperately needed by people with dementia and their loved ones,” she said.