NHS: Dementia Treatment Trials

Earl of Effingham Excerpts

Monday 22nd June 2026 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Merron (Lab)]

That will be considered. We have the Dame Barbara Windsor dementia goals programme, which very much aims to speed up the development of new treatments for dementia and neurodegenerative conditions by accelerating innovations, including in clinical trials. I agree that we need diagnosis that is effective and thorough, and the point that the noble Lord raises will of course be considered in all that.

[The Earl of Effingham (Con)]

My Lords, Wes Streeting was absolutely right when he said that prevention is better than cure. The onset of dementia can be delayed by regular exercise and eating healthily, but the facts are that one in three adults is not taking the recommended NHS guidelines for exercise. Ultra-processed foods provide more than half the total energy intake in UK adults, and the National Institute on Aging has suggested that what we eat, such as fruit, vegetables and whole grains,

“affects the aging brain’s ability to think and remember”.

Fixing this will not only make the population healthier, saving the NHS tens of billions of pounds, but prevent the onset of dementia. Surely it is time to act at pace.

[Baroness Merron (Lab)]

I believe that we have upped the pace. It is very important, as I know the noble Earl is aware, to go with evidence-based solutions. Indeed, when I speak to the point about an evidence base, that is why we have several research initiatives, including, as I mentioned, the dementia trials network and the trials accelerator. Both of those are speeding up the set-up of early and late-phase clinical trials. We have already gone well under our ambition of 150 days to set up, at 122. We are positioning ourselves well to be a global leader in a way that I am sure the noble Earl would want us to be.