ROMSEY'S MP is battling to stop Alzheimer's sufferers vital NHS drugs being withdrawn.

Sandra Gidley took the fight to the heart of government,Westminster, on Wednesday where a protest was staged by the Alzheimer's Society.

Mrs Gidley, the only qualified pharmacist in the Commons, said the National Institute for Clinical Excellence's (NICE) recommendation to axe free NHS prescriptions for the four dementia treatment drugs - donepezil, rivastigmine, galantamine and memantine - was alarming.

"What kind of society are we if we cannot spend £2.50p per day to give those suffering from dementia and their careers a better quality of life.

"It is alarming that NICE has decided that these drugs are not cost effective - for a number of my constituents and their careers they are a lifeline and have been a real benefit. These drugs are relatively inexpensive. However, because they benefit older people they are not deemed as 'cost effective'. This demonstrates an institutionalised ageism within the National Institute for Clinical Excellence," said Mrs Gidley.

Mrs Gidley is taking the matter up with NICE and lobbying government ministers on behalf of the 52,000 sufferers who rely on these drugs.

Mrs Gidley told the Commons the reaction to NICE's preliminary guidance had been quite remarkable in its unanimity.

"The Alzheimer's Society refers to the guidance as 'alarming reading' and claims the models that NICE use do not allow a monetary value to be put on the things that mean the most to people receiving drug treatments, so they simply ignore them. The society believes that is worth spending £2.50 a day on drug treatments for dementia," concluded Mrs Gidley.

The wife of a 65-year-old Valley Park Alzheimer's sufferer,whose condition has improved since taking donepezil, said it would be a backward step to withdraw his free drugs.

"It would cost him over £100 a month if he had to pay for the drugs. For NICE to say £25 a week is not cost effective is ridiculous. Aricept (donepezil) is the only clinical proven drug suitable for Alzheimer's disease. If my husband came off the drug his condition would rapidly deteriorate.

"It's just wrong, drug addicts get free treatment and their problems are self-inflicted. I am disgusted. We will be forced to buy the drugs. I already have enough to do looking after someone with Alzheimer's without worrying about this. It's putting a strain on me," said the woman who did not wish to be named.

She added that NICE's decision was "shortsighted" as more and more young people were being diagnosed with Alzheimer's.

A Broughton woman affected by the progressive brain disease, Rachel Bebb, said: "What value do we place on being able to remember the names of our children or the day they were born? How much is too much to allow someone to go to the toilet unaided or eat a meal without help? As a society are we prepared to deny people their dignity when faced with dementia?"