MPs including Justin Madders, Employment, Rights, Competition and Markets Minister; Ed Argar, Shadow Secretary of State for Health and Social Care; and Helen Morgan, Liberal Democrat health spokesperson, met with dementia specialist nurses and people with lived experience of the disease in the Houses of Parliament as part of Dementia UK’s Time for a Cuppa appeal.

The parliamentary event was hosted by Joe Robertson, Conservative MP for Isle of Wight East, and saw MPs discussing both dementia in their constituencies and across the country with Admiral Nurses and people with lived experience of the condition over tea and cake.

MPs were able to ask the nurses, including Dementia UK’s chief Admiral Nurse and chief executive, Dr Hilda Hayo, questions about the importance of specialist support for dementia, as well as hear from those with lived experience about the challenges they have faced in accessing appropriate care and support for the condition.

While the event did not involve any fundraising, Time for a Cuppa has encouraged people to raise funds to support people affected by dementia through the charity’s Admiral Nurses.

This years’ Time for a Cuppa appeal is supported by Dementia UK’s partnership with Nationwide and forms part of their social impact programme, Fairer Futures, which seeks to address three of the UK’s biggest social issues through charity partnerships – dementia (Dementia UK), youth homelessness (Centrepoint), and family poverty (Action for Children).

Through its partnership with Dementia UK, Nationwide is funding 30 dementia specialist Admiral Nurses and will have hosted free dementia support clinics in 200 branches across the country by the end of the summer.

Discussing the event, Dr Hayo said: “We are grateful that so many MPs made Time for a Cuppa and I hope they found it useful to spend time with our Admiral Nurses and the people who have experienced dementia first-hand and who kindly gave up their time to attend.

“One in two of us will be affected by this complex condition in our lifetime and, as the UK’s specialist dementia nursing charity, Dementia UK understands the issues and challenges that families face – and how specialist care can make all the difference to people facing dementia.

“We welcome opportunities to work with MPs to ensure more people affected by dementia have access to this vital support delivered through our helpline, clinics, and hosted services, as well as branch clinics delivered in partnership with Nationwide.”

Robertson added: “Dementia UK’s Time for a Cuppa event was a fantastic opportunity for MPs to find out more about the support that Admiral Nurses provide to families affected by dementia.

“With one million people currently living with dementia in the UK today, this specialist care is needed now more than ever.

“We need to see strong support in Parliament for improved dementia services to ensure that no one has to face dementia alone.

“I am confident that the Time for a Cuppa Event will help drive this much-needed change.”