Dr Karan Juttla, author of a report which has claimed that South Asian people living with dementia in the UK and their families are being failed by a culturally inclusive support after their diagnoses, has been appointed as the new ambassador of Alzheimer's Society.
Her appointment came on the occasion of the World Alzheimer's Month in September.
She will support the charity in its work to reduce healthcare inequalities and improve dementia diagnosis and care in the South Asian community.
Dr Jutlla's report -- ‘Understanding experiences of post-diagnostic dementia support for the South Asian community in England’ -- has said that families are struggling to navigate an ‘outdated’ post-diagnostic care system ‘designed for the white British population’ due to the absence of translated resources and South Asian language-speaking healthcare workers and support services that don’t take into account the cultural needs of South Asian communities.
Born a British-Asian in the Sikh community, Dr Jutlla has been Dementia Lead for the University of Wolverhampton since 2019 and has devoted her research to exploring how the healthcare system can support people, particularly in the South Asian community, to live well with dementia irrespective of their background or culture.
“This research paints an alarming picture of an outdated system designed for the white British population, which is failing the South Asian community. We’ve heard how people faced delays in getting a diagnosis and accessing support due to a lack of culturally inclusive information and assessment tools. Furthermore, people from the South Asian community were offered no community support which isn’t true for the white British population," she said.
“There’s also a language barrier challenge. English is not the first language for many older people within the South Asian community, and there’s not even a direct translation or word for ‘dementia’. Materials and support are largely provided only in English, and we’ve heard about care agencies muddling up South Asian languages, leaving families feeling isolated, anxious about finding the right care, and depressed. Culturally aware services suited for different languages are desperately needed," she added.
Her report recommends referring people to a dedicated ‘link worker’ who speaks their first language after diagnosis to help them navigate the health and care system.
It also suggests recruiting more specialist healthcare workers from the South Asian community and introducing culturally specific dementia training for the wider healthcare workforce, alongside translating resources about dementia.
Jas Ghag, 32, from Slough, took three months off work to care for her mother, Rajinder, who was diagnosed with Lewy body dementia in July 2021, and said, “After mum’s diagnosis all the information we received was in English. Coming from a culture where there is no word for ‘dementia’, this was difficult to explain to her and the rest of the family. The whole process before and after diagnosis needs to be adapted to include those whose first language isn’t English.
“The lack of information on services made the family feel isolated. We were chasing what we needed, but there was nothing. There needs to be someone who sits down with the person and their family and explains about the diagnosis in their first language – this would have helped us massively.”
People from South Asian communities are more likely to develop dementia than the general UK population as they are at higher risk of other illnesses, such as heart disease, stroke and diabetes, that increase the risk of dementia. A growing South Asian population in the UK is also likely to lead to an increased need for dementia services, but Alzheimer’s Society say they are currently under-represented in dementia services.
Simarpreet Kaur, 33, London, found care agencies didn’t understand the diversity within South Asian communities and struggled to find appropriate care for her 69-year-old mum.
She said, “It was exhausting, I contacted about 30 care agencies in our local area for mum and found only one agency had a Punjabi speaking carer who was qualified to look after patients with dementia. Mum speaks English, but for her and others her age, they are going to feel more comfortable with someone who can relate culturally and understands their native tongue.
“A lot of care agencies did not understand that there is a difference between Punjabi, Gujarati and Hindi. Previously we’ve been sent to a Gujarati-speaking care worker who did not speak Punjabi but had an understanding which the care agency thought was good enough but how could mum communicate effectively with her? We keep hitting brick walls like this and are often left to manage all aspects of care ourselves.”
The report also suggests more peer support and counselling should be available for carers and people living with dementia, while family members should be listened to and encouraged to advise carers to ensure that cultural needs are not only identified but also celebrated.
Kate Lee, Alzheimer’s Society CEO, said, “People from South Asian communities, along with other ethnic minority populations, are expected to see a 600 per cent increase in dementia diagnosed by 2050 compared to 100 per cent in the general UK population and yet the system is woefully unprepared to deal with the increase with meaningful, personalised and culturally inclusive care. Everyone facing the immense challenges of dementia deserves appropriate care, but our current system is totally inadequate, and it must change.”
A second report released by Alzheimer’s Society in July has also revealed the crisis in the lack of post-diagnostic support in the wider community. It found three in five people affected by dementia struggled with too little support over last year2 and one in five family carers had to admit their loved one with dementia to A&E due to a lack of support.
The charity has called for a number of recommendations to improve post-diagnostic support in the wider community, such as a dementia support worker available in every area.
Alzheimer’s Society has also developed a symptoms checklist, endorsed by the Royal College of GPs, to help anyone worried about their memory communicate their symptoms to their GP and get an accurate diagnosis. The charity has also developed a variety of information about diagnosis and support in Punjabi, available at alzheimers.org.uk/punjabi.
A FORMER West Yorkshire Police officer has been sentenced to two years and three months in prison after being convicted of misconduct in a public office.
Wasim Bashir, 55, who worked as a detective constable in Bradford District, was found guilty of one count of misconduct in a public office for forming a sexual relationship with a female victim of crime. He was sentenced at Sheffield Crown Court on Friday, 29 August.
Bashir retired from the force while under investigation but will still face misconduct proceedings.
The charge related to an incident of abuse of position for a sexual purpose, with Bashir engaging in a sexual relationship with a woman who had reported to West Yorkshire Police that she had been the victim of a sexual offence. He was involved in investigating her case.
The conviction followed an investigation by West Yorkshire Police’s Counter Corruption Unit under the direction of the Independent Office for Police Conduct. During the trial, the judge directed the jury to find Bashir not guilty of a second count of misconduct in a public office.
Detective Superintendent Natalie Dawson, Deputy Head of West Yorkshire Police’s Professional Standards Directorate, said: “For a police officer to pursue a sexual relationship with a vulnerable woman who had come forward to report being victim of a sexual offence is nothing short of abhorrent.
“I want to reassure victims of crime and the wider public that this former officer is not representative of our organisation. One of the Force’s key purposes is to protect vulnerable people, and our officers and staff work tirelessly to protect people from harm and to safeguard victims.
“Former DC Bashir has retired from the organisation, but we will still continue with misconduct proceedings with a view to him being banned from gaining any further employment in the policing profession.”
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Protesters calling for the closure of The Bell Hotel, which was housing asylum seekers, gather outside the council offices in Epping on August 8, 2025. (Photo: Getty Images)
Court of Appeal has overturned injunction blocking use of Epping hotel for asylum seekers.
Judges say human rights obligations outweigh local safety concerns.
At least 13 councils preparing legal action despite ruling.
Protests outside the Bell Hotel lead to arrests and police injuries.
MORE than a dozen councils are moving ahead with legal challenges against the use of hotels for asylum seekers despite the Home Office winning an appeal in the Court of Appeal.
Judges ruled that meeting the human rights of asylum seekers by providing accommodation outweighed local safety concerns.
The injunction was secured by Epping Forest District Council after protests following the alleged sexual assault of a 14-year-old girl by an Ethiopian asylum seeker.
The man has been charged and denies wrongdoing. A full hearing on the planning dispute over the Bell Hotel will take place in October.
At least 13 councils are preparing similar legal action, The Times reported, including Labour-run Wirral, Stevenage, Tamworth and Rushmoor. Epping Forest Council said it may appeal to the Supreme Court.
Asylum minister Dame Angela Eagle said the government remained committed to ending hotel use by 2029 and argued the appeal was needed to move migrants “in a controlled and orderly way”.
Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch criticised the government for prioritising “the rights of illegal immigrants above the rights of British people” and urged councils to continue legal action.
Reform leader Nigel Farage said the government had used the European Convention on Human Rights “against the people of Epping”.
Councils including Broxbourne and Spelthorne confirmed they were pressing ahead with enforcement action on planning grounds.
Protests outside the Bell Hotel on Friday led to the arrest of three men, while two police officers sustained minor injuries.
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India and Canada have appointed new envoys in a step to restore diplomatic ties strained since 2023. (Representational image: iStock)
INDIA and Canada on Thursday announced the appointment of new envoys to each other’s capitals, in a step aimed at restoring strained ties following the killing of a Sikh separatist in 2023.
India has named senior diplomat Dinesh K Patnaik as the next high commissioner to Ottawa, while Canada appointed Christopher Cooter as its new envoy to New Delhi.
The move comes more than two months after Indian prime minister Narendra Modi met Canadian prime minister Mark Carney on the sidelines of the G7 summit at Kananaskis in Canada.
Patnaik, a 1990-batch Indian Foreign Service officer, is currently India’s ambassador to Spain.
“He is expected to take up the assignment shortly,” the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) said in a statement.
In Ottawa, Canadian Foreign Minister Anita Anand announced that Cooter will be the next high commissioner to India, succeeding Cameron MacKay.
“The appointment of a new high commissioner reflects Canada’s step-by-step approach to deepening diplomatic engagement and advancing bilateral cooperation with India,” Anand said. “This appointment is an important development toward restoring services for Canadians while strengthening the bilateral relationship to support Canada’s economy.”
A Canadian statement described the appointments as an important step towards restoring diplomatic services for citizens and businesses in both countries.
Cooter, who has 35 years of diplomatic experience, most recently served as Canada’s charge d’affaires to Israel and has earlier been high commissioner to South Africa, Namibia, Lesotho, Mauritius and Madagascar. He also worked as first secretary at the Canadian High Commission in New Delhi from 1998 to 2000.
In June, Modi and Carney had agreed to take “constructive” steps to bring stability to bilateral ties, including the early return of envoys to both capitals.
Relations between the two countries had deteriorated sharply after then prime minister Justin Trudeau alleged in 2023 that India may have had a role in the killing of Khalistani separatist Hardeep Singh Nijjar.
Following this, India recalled its high commissioner and five other diplomats in October last year, while expelling an equal number of Canadian diplomats after Ottawa linked them to the case.
Carney’s victory in the parliamentary election in April has since helped initiate a reset in relations.
(With inputs from agencies)
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Security officers escort Sri Lankan former fisheries minister, Rajitha Senaratne (C), outside a court in Colombo on August 29, 2025. (Photo by ISHARA S. KODIKARA/AFP via Getty Images)
SRI LANKAN former government minister surrendered himself to a court on Friday (29) after two months on the run, the latest high profile detention in a sweeping anti-corruption crackdown.
Anti-graft units have ramped up their investigations since president Anura Kumara Dissanayake came to power in September on a promise to fight corruption.
Former fisheries minister Rajitha Senaratne, who served in the cabinet of then-president Mahinda Rajapaksa, is accused of illegally awarding a 2012 contract to a foreign firm, allegedly causing a loss to the state of $83,000 (£61,478).
Senaratne had repeatedly dodged questioning, the Commission to Investigate Allegations of Bribery or Corruption said.
High Court judge Lanka Jayaratne ordered him transferred to a lower court to face multiple cases.
Several politicians from the Rajapaksa administration, as well as family members, are either in jail or on bail pending corruption investigations.
Former president Ranil Wickremesinghe was arrested last week on a charge of misusing $55,000 (£40,738) of government funds for a private stopover in Britain.
Wickremesinghe, 76, who was granted bail on Tuesday (26), insisted the stopover was part of his official duties.
Under Dissanayake, two former senior ministers have been jailed for up to 25 years for corruption.
The police chief has been impeached, after he was accused of running a criminal network that supported politicians, and the prisons chief was jailed for corruption.
The head of immigration -- arrested just before Dissanayake took power -- remains in detention on a charge of contempt of court.
(AFP)
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Protesters from the group Save Our Future & Our Kids Future demonstrate against uncontrolled immigration outside the Cladhan Hotel on August 16, 2025 in Falkirk, Scotland. (Photo: Getty Images)
UK appeals court overturns ruling blocking hotel use for asylum seekers
Judges call earlier High Court decision “seriously flawed”
138 asylum seekers will not need to be relocated by September 12
Full hearing scheduled at the Court of Appeal in October
A UK appeals court has overturned a lower court order that had temporarily blocked the use of a hotel in Epping, northeast of London, to house asylum seekers.
A three-judge panel said the High Court ruling that set a September 12 deadline to move migrants from the Bell Hotel contained "a number of errors".
The case followed protests outside the hotel after a resident was charged with sexually assaulting a local girl. Demonstrations have continued for weeks and at times turned violent, triggering debate on immigration policy.
The Court of Appeal said the earlier ruling was "seriously flawed in principle" and could act as an "impetus or incentive for further protests". It added that it failed to consider the "obvious consequence that the closure of one site means capacity needs to be identified elsewhere in the system".
The government will now not be required to relocate 138 asylum seekers from the hotel by September 12. The decision also weakens local efforts to challenge the use of other hotels to house asylum seekers.
The Home Office is legally required under a 1999 law to house "all destitute asylum seekers whilst their asylum claims are being decided".
The case will return for a full hearing at the Court of Appeal in October. Both the Home Office and the hotel’s owner, Somani Hotels, are opposing Epping Forest District Council’s bid to prevent the hotel being used for asylum accommodation.
The council argued that the hotel posed a public safety risk and that its use breached planning rules.
The hotel became the focus of national attention after resident Hadush Kebatu was accused of sexually assaulting a 14-year-old girl. He has denied the charges, which include sexual assault, attempted sexual assault, and harassment without violence. His trial began this week.
Protests in Epping have since spread to other parts of Britain, as small boat arrivals across the Channel continue.