‘If I were PM I’d make dementia research a priority’

Julie Hayden is a dementia activist and the author of Living With Young Onset Dementia. As a ‘Dementia Rebel’, she’s been pushing dementia into the national conversation. So what would she do if she was prime minister for the afternoon?

If you suddenly found yourself in high office, what’s the first thing you’d want to fix? 

On achieving high office, my big issue would be to establish a national, unified dementia pathway which offered truly person-centred support from diagnosis to end of life for all people living with a diagnosis and their families. Too much dementia care is fractured (often split between older people’s services/mental health/frailty teams) and operates under a postcode lottery. 

What was the big political issue you remember from your youth? How did it impact you? 

The main political event which occurred during the last of my schooldays was when Margaret Thatcher became our first female prime minister. This should have meant a major advance in women’s rights, but instead she took the position that as she had had to struggle to succeed, why shouldn’t the rest of us! I went on to train as a nurse and saw firsthand how her government set about demolishing our NHS. 

What would your leadership style be? 

I’d encourage more cross-party working. Much more can be achieved by working together to find solutions to societal problems than by concentrating on breaking each other down. 

Who do you admire in politics, or generally, as a leader? 

The person I currently admire in British politics is our new prime minister, Andy Burnham. His great humanitarian work in Manchester has achieved much equitable change. I only hope that he will now be allowed the time and space to go deeper to spread this further in his new role. 

Read more:

• Andy Burnham: ‘Housing is a human right’
• Breaking the stigma of a dementia diagnosis
• A dementia diagnosis is not a final curtain. It can even be an opening act

Who would you call on the red telephone that could connect you with anyone, and what would you want to tell them? 

Again, that would be Andy Burnham. He has made strong ties with the dementia community over recent years, using his own experience of having a father living with dementia as his influence. I would like to work with him on forming a lived experience task force to push forward the necessary changes to move dementia care and research higher up the priorities list. 

What’s your big idea to save the world?

The idea of saving the world may seem a far-fetched ideal, but any advancement can only start with teaching the value of kindness from the start of our education system, then onwards through society. 

If answering these questions has convinced you to stand for election, what are your qualifications for the job? 

I would feel completely unable to stand for public office, but would like my voice/life experience to be taken more notice of, especially when decisions being made were going to directly impact on my life. 

Do you have a story to tell or opinions to share about this? Get in touch and tell us more. 

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