Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what recent assessment he has made of the potential effect of the covid-19 lockdown on the mental health of people who are caring for family members with dementia.

Our focus on supporting carers during the pandemic has included providing carers with guidance which includes advice on their health and wellbeing; funding to Carers UK to extend their support phoneline; providing funding to the Carers Trust to make onward grants to provide support to unpaid carers experiencing loneliness; and providing funding for mental health charities to support children, young people and adults who are struggling with their mental wellbeing.

We are working with the National Health Service, Public Health England, carers’ organisations and others to assess the potential longer-term mental health impacts of COVID-19. We have also commissioned research through the National Institute for Health Research on how to manage or mitigate the impact of COVID-19 on people with dementia and their carers living in the community. Concise advice based on this research for people with dementia and their carers is available at the following link:

http://www.idealproject.org.uk/covid/