I submitted a written question to the Department of Health and Social Care this month to push for better dementia care for patients. I have now received an answer from the relevant Minister; you can read the full question and answer below.
Stephen Kinnock: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps her Department is taking to (a) increase capacity and (b) improve infrastructure in the NHS to help tackle dementia.
Helen Whately: In 2019 we committed to doubling funding for dementia research, to £160 million per year by 2024/25. This will span all areas of research from causes and prevention to treatment and care, delivering evidence to help prevent, diagnose and treat dementia, enabling the best possible care and quality of life for people with dementia.
NHS England are assessing the additional scanning, treating and monitoring capacity which would be required if potential new Alzheimer’s treatments are approved and determined to be both cost and clinically effective. This includes securing additional diagnostic capacity, for instance through magnetic resonance imaging, lumbar puncture, and positron emission tomography and computed tomography.