Supporting those coping with memory loss in county

County councillors will be given training as part of the local authority's efforts to promote and support the development of dementia-friendly services.

At Tuesday’s cabinet meeting, members agreed to the production of a Northumberland Dementia-Friendly Toolkit citing general guidance for developing initiatives, with links to a range of appropriate websites, for the county council’s website and other distribution points.

Plus, it was also agreed that an existing dementia-awareness package is used or adapted for a pilot training session for councillors.

Coun Alan Sambrook, chairman of the council’s care and wellbeing scrutiny committee, said: “I would ask (political) group leaders to get as many of their members as possible to do the training.

“The reasons is that dementia is becoming a big problem in the county, as it is in the country.”