Katie Hopkins defends 'blocking beds' comment and says she has done the Alzheimer's Society a 'massive favour'

Katie Hopkins has claimed she has done the Alzheimer's Society a “massive favour” with her “blocking beds” comment.

The controversial columnist defended her claim that dementia sufferers are taking up NHS beds during an interview with John Stapleton on LBC today.

Hopkins, 40 – who believes she will be diagnosed with the disease due to its connection to epilepsy, which is something she suffers with – said she would “rather be banged over the head with a brick than be one of those people lying in a hospital bed.”

“I’m happy to go and pop off when my time’s arrived,” she said. “I don’t want to be sustained when I’m walking around with no clothes on and don’t even know what my name is."

George McNamara, head of policy and public affairs at the Alzheimer’s Society, recently criticised her “blocking beds” tweet for reinforcing the stigma around the disease.

He said: “These disgraceful remarks only serve to reinforce the stigma that sadly prevents many people with dementia from feeling like valued members of society.

When asked by Stapleton about McNamara’s response, Hopkins said she had sparked a valuable debate.

She said: "I've probably done [the society] a massive favour because for the first time as a nation, we're talking about it fairly coherently.

"For me, I don’t understand that we have this deep world view that life is good and death is bad. We keep people alive beyond their natural realm at the moment."

The reality television star – who agreed that her comments could be seen as “crude” – said that those who don't agree should refrain from reading her Twitter feed.

“You don’t like my Twitter feed, don’t read it. You don’t want to hear what I say, don’t invite me on to your programme,” she said. “People dump their relatives in hospitals because they don’t want to look after them.”