Barbara Pointon and her husband Malcolm. He was diagnosed with alzheimer’s at 51 and they were filmed for a documentary for the 11 years before his death.

EVERY family will be affected by dementia in years to come, a UK Government adviser on the condition has warned.

Barbara Pointon, who featured in an ITV documentary last year that followed her care of husband Malcolm – who was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s at the age of 51 – for 16 years before his death, said the quality of life attained by sufferers and their families depended on the level of care received.

Mrs Pointon, who was taken on as an adviser after the programme was aired, said better training of carers, particularly those who enter the patient’s home, was essential in the fight against the ever-more-prominent condition. ‘Quality of life depends enormously on the quality of paid care you get,’ she said. ‘We had too many people who helped in the home who were not trained in dementia care. The national strategy has just been published and training of dementia carers was a key feature.’

It is estimated that by 2050, one in three people will be affected either as a carer, a family member or a sufferer and Mrs Pointon said the problem will only get worse. ‘Every family in the land will have someone affected by it,’ she said.