Madam,

With regard to the letter from David Jenkins last week (Bodlondeb would be ideal location for dementia care home), I fully agree with his views.

Plaid Cymru-run Ceredigion council is very shortsighted in wanting to close Bodlondeb Care Home in Aberystwyth. There is a desperate need for dementia care in Ceredigion and Bodlondeb would be the ideal opportunity to provide this.

The empty beds could be converted for dementia care as is done in other parts of the country, but it needs the will to do it. Yes, it needs refurbishment and updating but I am sure that grants would be available to help.

Is it that Plaid Cymru is not forward-looking enough to grab the opportunity and make a really good job of it?

On a national point should dementia care be fully-funded by the NHS? Dementia is the forgotten disease, it is a chronic or persistent disorder of the mental processes caused by brain disease or injury.

When the NHS was launched by the then minister of health, Aneurin Bevan, on 5 July 1948, it was based on the principles that it meet the needs of everyone and that it be free at the point of delivery. Ever since it began 65 years ago the NHS has provided nearly all the health care that patients need, except if you have the dementia disease.

Yours etc,

George Bryan, Riverside Terrace, Aberystwyth.

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