The total cost of dementia care in Hertfordshire is set to soar by 72 per cent over the next decade, amid fresh calls for urgent social care investment.

The latest figures for Hertfordshire estimate care costs will rise from their current level of £596 million to £1,024 million by 2030.

The figures - calculated by the London School of Economics and Political Science - combine costs to the NHS, in-house social care and the value of unpaid care provided by family members.

Across England, it is estimated that 60 per cent of social care costs are typically met by people living with dementia - as their families do not qualify for state support.

In Hertfordshire, the total costs covered by patients is set to rise from £266 million to £472 million by 2030 - an increase of 78 per cent.

The Alzheimer's Society has led calls for immediate social care investment to be a key pillar of the government's upcoming spring budget on March 11.

Rosemary Brotchie, the Alzheimer's Society regional public affairs and campaign officer, said: "The social care system is unfair and unfit for people living with dementia. Alzheimer's Society is campaigning to end this injustice.

"We are calling on the government to commit to £8 billion in immediate funding to bring care to an acceptable level.

"For far too long, families have been privately struggling to care for their loved ones with dementia, and left to pick up the pieces of a social care system that's coming apart at the seams."

Across the country, care costs are predicted to rise from their current level of £29.4 billion to £50.4 billion by 2030, while the number of people living with dementia is also expected to rise - from an estimated 850,000 to 1.2 million.