Dementia charity aiming to raise awareness of sight loss

A leading dementia charity has started a special interest group to raise awareness of a neglect symptom of the disease.

Few realise the difficulties with sight and vision perception that can be faced by people with dementia, according to the Alzheimer's Society.

As a result the charity has joined forces with Royal National Institute of Blind People and the Thomas Pocklington Trust to create the Dementia and Sight Loss Interest Group.

The group will aim to encourage dementia policies to recognise the loss of sight associated with the disease and to make provisions for vision-related care and support services for people with the condition.

A special dementia page on the Vision 2020 website has already been added by the charity in the first step towards raising this awareness.

The Alzheimer's Research Trust currently estimates that 820,000 people in the UK have dementia and while research into the condition is making progress, the charity believes it is still drastically under-funded.

Read more about Barchester's dementia care homes.