Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment his Department has made of the potential merits of recognising dementia as a complex and palliative condition in the Modern Service Framework for Palliative and End of life care.

Almost one million people in the United Kingdom are living with dementia, and that figure is expected to rise. Each of those people, alongside their friends, families, and unpaid carers, have their own unique and important story of living with dementia.

The Government wants a society where every person with dementia receives high-quality, compassionate care from diagnosis through to the end of life. Everyone with dementia should have meaningful care following their diagnosis. This includes information on local services and access to relevant advice and support on what happens next.

Our health and adult social care system has struggled to support those with complex needs, including those with dementia. Under the 10-Year Health Plan, those living with dementia and frailty will benefit from improved care planning and better services.

We will deliver the first ever Modern Service framework (MSF) for Frailty and Dementia, complemented by a Palliative Care and End-of-Life Care MSF. Together these MSFs will drive rapid and significant improvements in quality of care and productivity.

The Palliative Care and End-of-Life Care MSF will drive improvements in the services that patients and their families receive at the end of life, including those living with dementia, and enable integrated care boards to address challenges in access, quality, and sustainability through the delivery of high-quality, personalised care.

The MSF for Frailty and Dementia will seek to reduce unwarranted variation and narrow inequality for those living with dementia and frailty. It will support this by setting national standards for dementia and frailty care, and redirecting NHS and adult social care priorities to provide the best possible care and support. It will be informed by phase one of the independent commission into adult social care, which is underway and will report this year.

We intend to continue to engage with a range of partners over the coming months to enable us to build a framework which is both ambitious and practical, to ensure we can improve system performance for people with dementia both now and in the future.