Meeting My MP: Taking Elizabeth’s Wish Forward

This week, I met with Emma Reynolds MP for Wycombe to talk about something deeply personal and increasingly urgent.

We spoke about what happened to my grandmother, Elizabeth. Her experience in hospital, as someone living with dementia, was not just distressing for her, but profoundly painful for our family to witness. It was a reminder that even within a system built on care and compassion, people with dementia can still be left vulnerable to avoidable harm, confusion, and indignity.

That experience is what led to the development of Elizabeth’s Wish, a proposal calling for greater accountability, mandatory training, and system-wide responsibility for dementia care in NHS hospitals. It is rooted not only in personal loss, but in years of professional experience and national evidence showing that dementia care in acute settings remains inconsistent and insufficient, despite existing guidance.

During the meeting, Emma listened carefully as we discussed both the personal story behind Elizabeth’s Wish and the wider policy challenge it seeks to address. We talked about the growing number of people living with dementia, the reality that hospitals are now unavoidable points of care for this population, and the gap between national guidance and what is actually delivered on wards.

I was encouraged by the constructive nature of the conversation. Emma acknowledged the importance of improving dementia care and recognised the value of a multidisciplinary approach. She offered to help put Elizabeth’s Wish in contact with relevant organisations, charities, and professional networks she is aware of, to support collaboration and help get the work off the ground. This kind of joined-up working is essential if meaningful change is to happen.

Elizabeth’s Wish was never intended to be a single voice shouting into the void. It is about building momentum, bringing together lived experience, frontline professionals, charities, policymakers, and regulators, and turning shared concern into coordinated action.

This meeting felt like a small but important step forward. Change of this kind does not happen overnight, but it does start with conversations, honest ones, about where the system is falling short and how we can do better.

I remain committed to seeing Elizabeth’s Wish progress, not just in memory of my grandmother, but for the countless families who continue to entrust their loved ones with dementia to hospital care, hoping for safety, dignity, and compassion.

This work continues