Thousands of dementia patients are hiding symptoms from loved ones and doctors because they are ashamed, a report warns. It compares the stigma to that of HIV and Aids in the 1980s and says that as many as a quarter of those suffering are refusing to speak out. Doctors say patients tell them how their friends ‘disappeared’ after they were diagnosed and in some cases how their own children have stopped visiting. A joint report led by the Medical Research Council warns that this ‘unacceptable stigma’ is denying patients vital help and resulting in them being ‘marginalised’ from the rest of society. Around 850,000 patients in Britain are thought to have dementia but only half have been given a proper diagnosis. The Government is urging GPs to improve their detection rates over concerns that victims and their families are struggling in silence.