Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what support his Department is providing to people with Alzheimer's disease in (a) Fylde constituency and (b) Lancashire.

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

A review of the currently commissioned dementia post diagnostic support service for Lancashire and South Cumbria took place in 2023/24. The outcome of the review was a newly designed service specification, ensuring a consistent service model for all individuals who receive a diagnosis of dementia and who are currently living with dementia, and their carers, from point of diagnosis to end of life.

Under this new service, individuals will be systematically referred upon diagnosis into a post diagnostic support service and will then be contacted by a named dementia navigator who will be the contact for the individual throughout their journey with dementia.

Additionally, the Government’s 10-Year Health Plan will address the challenges diagnosed by Lord Darzi and will set the vision for what good joined-up care looks like for people with a combination of complex health and care needs. It will set out how we support and enable health and social care services to work together better to provide that joined-up care.