Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask Her Majesty's Government what measures the dementia strategy will include to improve patient access to (1) FDG-PET scans, and (2) CSF tests, for an early and accurate diagnosis of Alzheimer’s disease.

We will set out plans for dementia in England, which will include a focus on dementia diagnosis, later this year.

The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence’s (NICE) guidelines provide evidence-based recommendations for health and care, including on assessment, management and support for people living with dementia and their carers. NICE’s guideline Dementia: assessment, management and support for people living with dementia and their carers states that clinicians should consider FDG-PET and CSF tests when the diagnosis of Alzheimer’s disease is uncertain. A copy of the guideline is attached.

Clinical commissioning groups (CCGs) commission the appropriate resources, including such testing, in line with local population health needs. To address dementia waiting lists and increase the number of diagnoses, NHS England and NHS Improvement was allocated £17 million through the Comprehensive Spending Review settlement for mental health in 2021/22. This funding was made available to CCGs in June 2021.