Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps is the Government taking to address the backlog of dementia assessments.
NHS England and NHS Improvement continue to monitor trends in the dementia diagnosis rate each month. The national target is for 66.7% of people living with dementia to receive a formal diagnosis. Due to the pandemic, the estimated diagnosis declined in 2020 but increased in March 2021 and has remained stable. At the end of January 2022, the rate was 61.6%.
In 2021/22, £17 million was allocated to NHS England and NHS Improvement to address dementia waiting lists and increase the number of diagnoses. This funding was made available to clinical commissioning groups in June 2021. In 2022, we will set out our plans for dementia in England, including a focus on dementia diagnosis.