WHAT are newspapers for? We are here to inform, certainly. To entertain, yes. To provide helpful analysis and insightful comment. To hold the executive to account. And – yes, dear reader, this is true – to be a force for good.

Don't just take my word for it. Here's Herald Editor Donald Martin: "Newspapers have a responsibility to try to help their readers and communities tackle the issues that affect them most. We also have a vital role in standing up for what is right and just."

That is why, in October 2019, we took up the cudgels on behalf of Alzheimer Scotland, and threw our weight behind its Fair Dementia Care campaign. We have been fighting a clear injustice: patients in the final years of their lives are forced to foot the bill for specialist nursing care, unlike those suffering from other terminal illnesses such as cancer. Current policy is failing patients at the end stages of the disease because the needs of patients are assessed as social care rather than healthcare.

The campaign called for a manifesto commitment from all parties that patients with advanced dementia will no longer be forced to foot the bill for end-of-life medical care. We have kept up the pressure over the last 18 months with a series of articles and interviews, and this week we were pleased to be able to report a huge step forward.

The SNP pledged, if it is re-elected to government, to take forward the recommendations of the Feeley Report, a major, independent review of adult social care which calls for an almost doubling of free personal and nursing allowances. The other main parties have vowed to go even further to ensure that all end-of-life care costs are free.

The Editor summed up our view in Tuesday's Herald: "We are absolutely delighted our campaign has received the backing of all the major parties. Providing free care for dementia patients when they need it most will make a significant difference to so many lives and rights a terrible inequity."

It should be said that deciding to mount a campaign is not one that is taken lightly. It takes up valuable editorial resources, especially in these straitened times, but as stated above, it is part of our remit (we are also running one for a memorial garden for the remembrance of victims of the pandemic; last month we reached a milestone £60,000). But this cause was one we knew would resonate with our readers. A fair proportion are elderly; many of those who are not will have relatives who are. It was the right thing to do on their behalf. We are glad to have been of service.

So we now have those manifesto commitments. We will be keeping a watchful eye on the next Scottish Parliament to ensure those promises are made good.