Twitter Updates 25 October 2012 People with dementia need an independent voice Honestly, we hardly need more debate on how to ensure good quality care for older people with conditions such as dementia. Our ageing population represents a demographic time bomb and yet we have hardly progressed in protecting people's best interests. Why don't we ensure that those who are unable to speak for themselves can be heard? People need an individual voice to ensure their personal needs are respected, that considers all the decisions that relate to their lives; and a collective high-profile voice to fight their corner with the big organisations, like government, regulators and health and social care providers. Advocacy enables older people's voices to be heard by those who make decisions affecting their everyday lives. This is something that many older people simply do not have. As Kath Parson CE of independent advocacy charity OPAAL (of which I am a member) says in The Guardian, "This situation is not restricted to the frail and the vulnerable. Thousands of elderly people who have led active lives find themselves mute in the face of complex health and social care systems that leave them stunned by their very complexity." For a variety of reasons, most older people are unable to complain or express a view on the type and nature of care they need or want to receive. Worst of all perhaps, most are unable to influence the quality of service they have every right to expect or how