The UK should be the most dementia-friendly country in the world by 2020, the health secretary has said. Jeremy Hunt said the government wanted to increase the numbers of diagnoses for people with dementia, raise awareness of the condition and encourage more research.

Under new plans, if a pilot scheme proves successful, everyone aged 40 and over will be given information about dementia and memory problems when they have their free NHS health check with their GP.

Ofsted-style ratings will apparently strengthen current information on which regions are good at diagnosing dementia, enabling people to make more meaningful comparisons about the quality of dementia care in their area.

A proposed 10% of all people diagnosed with dementia will take part in research, while the Care Quality Commission (CQC) will include standards of dementia care in their inspections. Hunt also said seven-day services will improve for dementia patients in hospitals, with a consultant seeing patients in high-dependency care twice a day, every day, by 2020.

Hunt says “Diagnosis can bring fear and heartache, but I want Britain to be the best place in the world to live well with dementia. Last parliament we made massive strides on diagnosis rates and research – the global race is now on to find a cure for dementia and I want the UK to win it.”

However, Hunt is not without his critics. His announcement includes a shift towards helping people prevent the condition, including routine health checks for the over-40s and the evidence to show these would be effective is contentious. And, while we have a growing understanding of lifestyle factors that can increase the risk of dementia in later life, the evidence that the disease can be prevented is patchy.

This means the promise of routine health checks is a big investment of time for an already overstretched primary care workforce for no certain gain.

Once people are diagnosed, Hunt suggests two further initiatives: personalised care plans for people with dementia and Ofsted-style ratings for local dementia services.

GPs have struggled to support a small percentage of over-75s with care planning as it is and are struggling even more to provide support to care home residents. GP attendance has doubled at a time when funding has dwindled and the workforce is retiring. How will they find the time we wonder?

To deliver better care and support for people with dementia we need cold, hard cash and an adequately staffed and trained workforce. But Government have cut at least £800m from the social care budget, leading to around 900,000 people with care needs unmet. Cuts in community services have also led to greater delays accessing intermediate care services outside hospital.

Hunt reminded us in his speech that around one in four people in hospital beds have dementia, that they stay longer than those without and that they are more likely to die. This is true. They are often admitted to hospital avoidably and then stay far too long because of the cuts in care and support outside hospital. Getting them home needs more investment in the social care system, and more specifically, in the promotion of care work as a viable, respected and well paid career choice.