NHS: Dementia Treatment Trials

Lord Patel Excerpts

Monday 22nd June 2026 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Merron (Lab)]

Yes, indeed. I am feeling positive about the way we are moving forward, about increasing research and about developing a frailty and dementia modern service framework by the end of this year, as the noble Baroness, Lady Casey, has called for. On the question of drugs, to which the noble Lord has referred, I can confirm that NICE is currently evaluating two licensed disease-modifying treatments for Alzheimer’s disease; it will meet to consider that on 8 July.

[Lord Patel (CB)]

My Lords, if our intention is to increase the diagnosis rate of early dementia, normally what we would do is to find a screening test that would identify people at risk of any disease. There is one called Mini-Cog; it takes three minutes to administer and uses word registration and recall and a clock to diagnose early dementia. Why do we not use that as a screening test, easily implemented by trained people to increase the rate of diagnosis of dementia?

[Baroness Merron (Lab)]

That will be considered. We have the Dame Barbara Windsor dementia goals programme, which very much aims to speed up the development of new treatments for dementia and neurodegenerative conditions by accelerating innovations, including in clinical trials. I agree that we need diagnosis that is effective and thorough, and the point that the noble Lord raises will of course be considered in all that.