Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what plans he has to issue guidance to specialised neurology centres on the diagnosis of Primary Progressive Aphasia.

There are no current specific plans to issue guidance to specialised neurology centres on the diagnosis of Primary Progressive Aphasia.

The provision of dementia health care services is the responsibility of local integrated care boards (ICBs). NHS England would expect ICBs to commission services based on local population needs, taking account of the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence guidelines.

A timely diagnosis is vital to ensuring that a person with dementia can access the advice, information, care, and support they need. We remain committed to recovering the dementia diagnosis rate to the national ambition of 66.7%. This ambition includes ensuring provision of a validated diagnosis of dementia subtype.

We will deliver the first ever Modern Service Framework for Frailty and Dementia to deliver rapid and significant improvements in quality of care and productivity. This will be informed by phase one of the independent commission into adult social care, expected this year.

As we develop this, we will consider what interventions should be supported to improve dementia care and diagnosis.

We are committed to publishing an interim product in September this year to feed into National Health Service and local government planning cycles, and will aim to publish the full modern service framework by the end of this calendar year as recommended by Baroness Casey.