By Caroline Ryan BBC News Online health staff

The service visits elderly people in their homes

She says her work fills a gap in the care of the elderly - providing more than the personal care offered by social services.

Ms Hughes runs a support service for the elderly in Woking, Surrey where she and her team of carers have a "softly, softly" approach to the care they give.

Their visits to elderly people with dementia can involve practical tasks, such as hoovering, or making a meal, or encouraging them to take medication or change their clothes.

We meet the needs that social services can't meet June Hughes

But just as often, they involve sitting down with someone and talking to them about their lives, asking them who is in the photos on the wall, and asking them to recollect events from their past.

Ms Hughes said: "You've got to listen to them, and you must give them time, that's the most important thing.

"They love looking at old photos because they can relate to it to events back in their past.

"They talk about people who fought in the war, or tell stories about when they were courting.

"We're remembering with them. It's good for them to talk about their past. We don't want them to forget."

The carers can also have more humdrum responsibilities, such as reminding people what day it is or prompting them to read the paper.

"They can get embarrassed if they can't remember what was in the news. But we won't embarrass them back. It's important they don't feel stupid for not remembering. You have to take the conversation in a different direction."

'Friend of the family'

The Woking Home Support Service is run under the auspices of the charity Friends of the Elderly, which this week warned cases of dementia were set to rise - and health services will not be able to cope.

Before they visit someone, they find out as much information as possible about their lives and their family.

Ms Hughes said: "We want to know what they did for a living, what their children's names are, how many grandchildren they have.

"Then we can go in and say 'we know your daughter', and it gives us a way of introducing ourselves.

"We need to do that because some people don't like you going in at all, and it helps if you can say you're a friend of the family.

The team may visit as often as once a day - and can spend hours talking to their clients.

Ms Hughes said: "We help people who are in the early stages of the disease so they can stay at home.

"We meet the practical and emotional needs that social services can't meet.