HEALTH minister Melanie Johnson has blamed a breakdown in communication for blocking plans to revamp care for elderly dementia sufferers in Swindon.

Reacting to pressure from North Swindon MP Michael Wills, Miss Johnson said she was mystified why a blueprint drawn up by town health experts had been ignored.

She said: "I'm at a loss to explain what's gone wrong.

"It may be there has been a breakdown in communication which has been unhelpful to residents and managers who have been doing the work."

The Minister promised to organise a meeting between health officials and representatives from Swindon, in order to get the project for dementia sufferers moving.

Her comments came during a House of Commons debate, in which she had claimed the Department Of Health encouraged innovation.

That flies in the face of what the Swindon health team has said and Mr Wills the Labour MP closely involved in the project refused to accept her answer.

He told the Minister she was not getting the message and insisted innovation by professionals had hit a brick wall when bureaucrats had refused even to discuss the plan.

Mr Wills said: "All they needed was some reassurance they would not be punished for trying something new but they could not even have a conversation."

The angry exchanges came after two years of frustration in Swindon over the dementia project.

Had it been brought in it would have meant patients could have more involvement in the way they were treated.

Consultant psychiatrist Roger Bullock, one of the key figures behind the plan, said bureaucrats had refused to consider it properly.

Mr Bullock, who heads a ground-breaking science team at Swindon's Kingshill Research Centre, said the Department Of Health had turned a blind eye, despite the fact it could have improved care for the 2,000 dementia sufferers treated in the town each year.