Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment has he made of reasons for the level of death by covid-19 of people diagnosed with (a) Dementia and (b) Alzheimer’s disease in (i) care homes and (ii) other settings.

Keeping people safe throughout this period is the Government’s top priority. We have been working closely with the sector and public health experts to put in place guidance and support for adult social care and we will continue to ensure they have everything they need to respond.

We are monitoring the impact of COVID-19 on people with dementia. Informed by the Office of National Statistics 15 May publication ‘Deaths involving COVID-19 in England and Wales: deaths occurring in April 2020’ and the 5 June publication ‘Analysis of death registrations not involving coronavirus (COVID-19), England and Wales: 28 December 2019 to 1 May 2020’, we are working with our partners to understand what additional mitigating actions may be required to ensure the safety of people with dementia.

We have also commissioned research on how to manage or mitigate the psychological, physical and social impact of COVID-19 on people with dementia living in the community, and their carers. Work has already started with phased outputs to August 2020.