Dementia

(asked on 29th June 2017) - View Source

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what projection he has made of the number of people affected by dementia in the next five years; and if he will make a statement.


Answered by
Jackie Doyle-Price Portrait
Jackie Doyle-Price
This question was answered on 6th July 2017

The Alzheimer’s Society has forecast that the number of people with dementia in the United Kingdom will increase to over one million by 2025.

In February 2015, the Government published the Challenge on Dementia 2020 which set out more than 50 specific actions, across four core themes of risk reduction, health and care, awareness and social action, and research, that together will make England the world-leader in dementia care, research and awareness by 2020.

We are transforming our approach to risk reduction to educate more people earlier about the risks of developing dementia and the steps they could take to reduce those risks. Public Health England has lead responsibility for this and will continue to work to reduce the incidence and prevalence of dementia through its work on initiatives such as the NHS Health Check and reducing health inequalities.

Improvements to diagnosis is thought to be key to ensuring that the health and care system can manage the predicted rise in numbers, as well as ensure that people living with dementia receive the care they need. We continue to maintain diagnosis rates above the two thirds ambition nationally, and are taking steps to reduce local variations in dementia diagnosis.

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