Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what discussions he has had with local NHS bodies on improving dementia care pathways in Essex.

While we have had no specific discussions on improving dementia care pathways in Essex, we published the D100: Assessment Tool Pathway programme, which brings together multiple resources into a single, consolidated tool to help simplify best practice for system leaders and help create communities and services where the best possible care and support is available to those with dementia.

This Population Health Improvement Plan for the NHS Essex Integrated Care Board (ICB) includes a plan for the development of a response to the ICB’s D100 self-assessment.

The plan was shared with and discussed with partners and, under the ‘Age Well’ ambition, NHS Essex ICB specifically aims to maintain dementia diagnosis rates in line with national targets.

The provision of dementia health care services is the responsibility of local ICBs. We expect ICBs to commission services based on local population needs, taking account of National Institute for Health and Care Excellence guidelines.