Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking to tackling the backlog in dementia diagnoses as a result of the outbreak of covid-19.
In 2021/22, we allocated £17 million to address dementia waiting lists and increase the number of diagnoses, including for Parkinson’s-related dementia. This funding was made available to clinical commissioning groups in June 2021. In 2022/23, NHS England will provide funding to general practitioners in some areas to undertake pilot approaches to increase the dementia diagnosis rate and improve access to post-diagnostic support.
We will set out plans for dementia in England for the next 10 years later this year, which will include a focus on dementia diagnosis.