ABSTRACT
3In the last decade public and political interest in dementia and dementia care has increased greatly. Calls for research to prevent, treat and cure dementia abound, and governments around the world have been charged with creating national dementia action plans (European Parliament 2010) and to invest in the development of the dementia workforce and to improve services (Department of Health 2013). The World Health Organisation Global Dementia Action Plan 2017 is for people with dementia and their carers to live well and receive the care and support they need to fulfil their potential to live with dignity, respect, autonomy and equality (World Health Organisation 2017). This improvement imperative is particularly welcomed by individuals, family and practitioners, many of whom have direct experience of what might be described as the inverse care law, that is to say, that those who need most care seem to receive least (Tolson et al. 2016).
