Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether her Department is taking steps to expand testing for Alzheimer's to enable people to benefit at an early stage from new treatments (a) lecanemab and (b) other new treatments.

NHS England is committed to improving diagnosis rates, and recovering to the national ambition for two thirds of people with dementia to have a formal diagnosis. This commitment is included in the operational planning guidance for 2023/24, giving clear direction for integrated care boards to prioritise dementia. The national ambition includes provision for a sub-type diagnosis.

NHS England has established a dedicated national programme team which co-ordinates the preparations for the potential roll out of new treatments, for use in the earlier stages of Alzheimer’s disease. These plans assume that, if these new treatments are approved by the regulators, significant additional diagnostic capacity including amyloid positron emission tomography and computed tomography (PET-CT) lumbar puncture and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), will be needed both to identify patients who are most able to benefit, and to provide important safety monitoring for potential adverse effects during treatment.

The team at NHS England is taking concrete steps to ramp up preparations across the country and assess the additional scanning, treating, and monitoring capacity that will be needed. This encompasses securing additional diagnostic capacity including MRI, lumbar puncture, and PET-CT.