Care homes are vitally important, particularly for people in the latter stages of dementia, it has been claimed.
Bupa Care Services' head of mental health, Dr Graham Stokes, noted that people with dementia need different care at different stages of the disease.
He pointed out that families or carers should not feel they have failed if it reaches the stage where a person needs to go into a care home.
"What matters is ensuring individuals with dementia are getting person-centred care in an appropriate care environment, delivered by people with specialist training," he explained.
"Care homes are part of the solution... and should be part of the whole system of care, not simply seen as a final resort when all else is considered to have failed."
According to the Alzheimer's Research Trust, there are some 700,000 people with dementia in the UK and this number is expected to double within a generation.
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Long term care insurance: News update: 11/02/2009