Your article stating that dementia services are poorly funded (May 8) gives a false impression of the extent of dementia services in the South West and particularly in the geographical area covered by the Avon & Wiltshire Mental Health Partnership Trust.

The new national Dementia Strategy emphasises the need for referral to specialist services, early diagnosis broken to people sensitively and ongoing help in understanding and adapting to the condition.

Memory services are a key element of our contribution to the successful ageing of the population we serve, alongside our local partners.

In Swindon and Northern Wiltshire, memory services are provided in specialist clinics that have diagnosed 66 per cent of the expected numbers of people with dementia (the national average is 42 per cent).

We are currently combining our memory services with new services provided by the Alzheimer’s Society, which we hope will result in more consistently provided memory services across the county, improving the wellbeing of people with cognitive problems and their families in a variety of ways.

While we could always make use of more resources, AWP, along with the organisations who buy our services, is committed to using the money we receive efficiently and effectively.

The Dementia Strategy will ensure that improving services becomes a national priority. People at all stages of the condition and their carers deserve high quality, consistent dementia services.

This Trust welcomes the paper’s interest in this issue, which is affecting an increasing number of people. We would like to reassure your readers that, using our renowned expertise in this field, we will continue to work with our many partners in the voluntary and private sector to improve dementia services across Wiltshire for those with all stages of dementia.

Roger Bullock, Clinical Director for Older People’s Mental Health, Avon and Wiltshire Mental Health Partnership NHS Trust, Downs View Road, Swindon.