THOUSANDS of dementia sufferers in Derbyshire are going without vital treatment because they have not been diagnosed.

The Alzheimer's Society believes about 7,500 people in Derbyshire could have the condition without knowing it.

Drugs that are given to slow the onset of the disease are most effective when given in the early stages of the illness.

But dementia is hard to diagnose and health officials admit people could be missing out on treatments that could help.

Now they have drawn up a £4m plan to improve the situation, including the setting up of specialist clinics to help diagnosis, and GPs will be given refresher sessions about the early signs of dementia and greater access to specialist tests.

Jane Yeomans, Derbyshire County Primary Care Trust's assistant head of adult and older people's services, urged people who believe they have dementia to visit their GP.

She said: "Traditionally it's not something people want to have a diagnosis of, but if they do then they can get treatment and advice to help them come to terms with it.

"There are different types of dementia and drugs aren't effective in all cases but drugs can be used to slow down certain forms of the illness.

"But if those drugs are given too late in the development of dementia, they are not effective."

The Alzheimer's Society and health bosses in Derbyshire agree that a number of factors are to blame for the low diagnosis rate.

These include the difficulty of recognising and diagnosing the illness, an unwillingness among patients to be tested because of the stigma surrounding the illness and a shortage of specialist testing services.

Vivien Walters cares for her husband, Alan, 65, who has dementia and she said that, whatever the reason for the low diagnosis rate, it was vital people got treatment.

The 49-year-old said: "Drugs lifted Alan so that he was much calmer and he could communicate better.

"I know he was struggling with what he was saying before he was given drugs, and without them I'm sure that, communication-wise, he would have been a lot worse."

Both the county trust and NHS Derby City have made tackling dementia a priority, with plans to spend £4m between them during the next three years.

They are developing an action plan to decide where exactly the money should be spent and aim to have identified their priorities early in the new year.

Ideas include taking mobile clinics to isolated rural areas, campaigns about the risk of developing dementia through binge-drinking and lack of exercise, and employing advisers to support dementia sufferers.

Dr Alan Meakin, medical director at the county trust, said one of the key expenses would be clinics which use a number of tests to diagnose dementia.

The county has five memory assessment clinics, where people can be sent by their GP for diagnosis, and is deciding how many more it needs in order to provide county-wide access.

Dr Meakin said: "Traditionally, GPs make a diagnosis of dementia, but in the past few years the clinics have been introduced, which help to give a more scientific and objective diagnosis through testing.

"They aren't available across the county at the moment but should be within the next 12 months.

"Where they aren't available, GPs can make the diagnosis themselves or refer them to the mental health service for older people."

From April, the trust hopes to give GPs refresher sessions in diagnosing dementia during the monthly educational sessions which are held at practices.

Paul Dunnery, Alzheimer's Society area manager for the East Midlands, said retraining GPs should be a key focus of the trusts' work to tackle the illness.

He said: "GPs have repeatedly recognised they have a lack of understanding of dementia.

"The Alzheimer's Society hopes some of the funding can be allocated to increasing GPs awareness of dementia and to enable them to recognise and accurately diagnose the condition."

The Derbyshire trust has records of 3,339 people with dementia, while the Alzheimer's Society estimates there are 9,184 with the illness. That means just 36% are diagnosed.

NHS Derby City has 1,061 people registered with the illness, compared to an estimate of 2,817.

The charity based its figures on the Expert Delphi Consensus, an estimation by 10 UK and European experts of the percentage of the population that has dementia.

Using medical evidence, the team estimated that 1.3% of people aged 65 to 69 have dementia, a figure which rises to 28% among 90-to-96-year-olds.

A spokeswoman for the city trust said improving mental health services have been identified as a key priority within its five-year strategic plan and it was working closely with the Alzheimer's Society, GPs, service users, carers and other organisations.