Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment he has made of the potential implications for his policies of trends in levels of people diagnosed with dementia over the last five years.

The national target is for 66.7% of people estimated to be living with dementia to receive a formal diagnosis. The latest dementia diagnosis rate reported by NHS England for the end of November 2024 was 65.8%.

The target had been met consistently at the national level from July 2016 until end of March 2020, when it dropped due to the COVID-19 pandemic, as memory services were reduced in capacity and general practitioner referrals into these services decreased significantly. At a national level, the dementia diagnosis rate is now gradually recovering due to sustained efforts.

NHS England continue to monitor the monthly dementia diagnosis rate and analyse trends at national, regional, and integrated commissioning board (ICB) level.  This provides a clear direction for ICBs to support delivery of timely diagnoses within local systems and enable access to appropriate post diagnostic support.