Katie Hopkins' slurs on dementia patients provoke anger from charities

Controversial reality TV star Katie Hopkins has been accused of making "disgraceful" and "ill-informed" remarks about dementia patients by leading charities.

The columnist and pundit is well-known for her outspoken and provocative comments,the latest of which have outraged campaigners for the elderly.

Writing on Twitter, she suggested those diagnosed with dementia were "blocking beds" and were better off dead.

Dementia sufferers should not be blocking beds. What is the point of life when you no longer know you are living it? Bang me over the head.
— Katie Hopkins (@KTHopkins) April 6, 2015

1 in 4 hospital beds is taken up by someone with dementia. The National Hotel Service. #NHS
— Katie Hopkins (@KTHopkins) April 7, 2015

The comments by Miss Hopkins made over the weekend provoked disgust from followers, some of whom called the remarks about the condition "abysmal".

In January she criticised people who " dial the cop shop every time we feel offended online " after she was reported to police over her Twitter outburst about the Scottish nurse who is battling ebola.

Hopkins said "the freedom to say only things that are polite is no real freedom of speech at all", in her Sun newspaper column on Friday.

Hopkins was berated online after she wrote on the site about "little sweaty jocks", adding: "Sending us ebola bombs in the form of sweaty Glaswegians just isn't cricket."

Responding to the latest criticism, Hopkins told MailOnline: "It is high time the UK caught up with civilised nations and adopted voluntary euthanasia in order that people may die with the same dignity we accord to much loved pets."

The reality TV contestant, who came to fame in The Apprentice, has dubbed herself " the biggest bitch in Britain".

Her outspoken remarks, on television and twitter have seen her regularly cause outrage.