Swindon has been hailed as one of the best place in the country when it comes to treating patients suffering from Alzheimer's disease.

A new report, compiled by pharmaceuticals company Pfizer, highlights a significant geographical variation in prescribing drugs for the disease around the UK.

Dr Roger Bullock, of the Kingshill Memory Research Centre, in Swin-don, said that while there are differences nationally, Swindon is doing well.

Dr Bullock, who is instrumental in testing anti-dementia drugs, said: "Swindon has been a hotspot for prescribing anti-dementia drugs and treating people with Alzheimer's for a while.

"The Avon and Wiltshire Mental Health Trust and Swindon Primary Care Trust have been very supportive of innovation, unlike other areas which have not been so lucky.

"In Dorset, for example, consultants were told they had to limit the number of Alzheimer's patients they treated a year.

"In Swindon about 300 people a year are treated for Alzheimer's.

"Generally though, old people do not get the care they deserve. I'm not looking forward to getting old in England."

The report compared how overall spending on the drugs had increased between 1999 and 2003 following National Institute Of Clinical Excellence guidelines for treating Alzheimer's disease.

Money spent on the three main anti-Alzheimer's drugs donepezil, rivastigmine and galantamine in 52 health authorities and boards in the UK was investigated.

The report found health authorities had increased their spending on the drugs overall, but there was still significant geographical differences in their uptake.

Dr Bullock, 47, said: "Avon, Gloucestershire and Wiltshire Strategic Health Authority came out in the middle.

"But Swindon does very well, due to the support from the trusts and also because the research team is here.

"It means we are able to use drugs before they come out elsewhere you often find areas where research is based fare better than others."

He added the process of diagnosing and subsequently prescribing medication is over-complicated but with a review planned for next year it could all change.

"At the moment GPs must refer patients to consultants before they are diagnosed and only then can the GP issue the drugs. But the diagnosis isn't that complex, although it still seems to be shrouded in mystery," he said.

"Most people can tell if someone has lost their memory. In 90 per cent someone will have Alzheimer's."

Alex Emery