South Pembrokeshire AM Angela Burns has criticised a two-year delay in the development of a Dementia Plan for Wales.
The Welsh Assembly Government has said that it is awaiting the findings of four task and finish groups before the Plan can be published.
Mrs Burns said: “I find it staggering that it has taken 20 months to get to this point and that we now have another set of task and finish groups. Heaven only knows how much all of that is costing.”
After all four reports have been received at the end of this month, they will be considered and consolidated before finally being launched, she added.
“We are, therefore, talking about two years in total, two years to sort out what is a shocking, heartbreaking and increasing problem is an incredibly long time.
“If you were in industry and it took you two years to develop a project and deliver something like this, people would ask questions.”
Mrs Burns has seen first-hand the effects of dementia on four close family members.
“What struck me was not so much what happened to them, but what happened to the family around them: to my grandmother and my aunts and their pain, anguish and exhaustion at not being able to get through to people or to get support,” she added.
“We want to ensure that the National Assembly does not let down the dementia sufferers, the parents and families who have to cope with them, the doctors, nurses and medical professionals who have to support them, the social care workers and the councils and the people who have to fund this growing need in our society, and the third sector, which works so tirelessly to provide the support that the statutory authorities are often unable to provide or are not funded to provide.”
