Over half the population is unaware that dementia can kill while 70pc wrongly think it is mainly a hereditary illness.

The eye-opening stats came out of research conducted by the Alzheimer’s Society which also showed that two-thirds of those surveyed didn’t realise there were 700,000 sufferers.

Does this reflect the situation on your patch? What about those carers on the frontline dealing with dementia sufferers on a daily basis?

Do they, and sufferers’ families, have to deal with regular prejudice because of ignorance about the disease?