To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will set targets to reduce memory clinic waiting times in (a) Torbay, (b) Exeter and (c) Barnstaple.
Answered on
10 January 2025
The Government is committed to transforming diagnostic services, including the detection and diagnosis of dementia, and will support the National Health Service to increase capacity to meet the demand for diagnostic services. We are committed to improving dementia diagnosis rates and recovering them to the national ambition for two thirds of people with dementia to have a formal diagnosis.
NHS England has funded an evidence-based improvement project to fund two trusts in each region, making 14 sites in total, to pilot the Diagnosing Advanced Dementia Mandate tool to improve the diagnosis of dementia and provision of support in care homes. All pilots completed at the end of May 2024, and it is anticipated that learning will be shared in early 2025.
To support recovery of the dementia diagnosis rates and implementation of the Dementia Care Pathway, NHS England has developed a dashboard for management information purposes. The aim is to support commissioners and providers of memory services with appropriate data and enable targeted support where needed.