Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask His Majesty's Government how they are preparing diagnostic and clinical services for the anticipated arrival of new disease-modifying treatments for dementia.

NHS England has established a dedicated national programme team which is working in partnership with other national agencies and with local health systems to co-ordinate the preparations for the potential roll out of new treatments for dementia.

These plans assume that, if new treatments are approved by the regulators, significant additional diagnostic capacity, including amyloid positron emission tomography and computed tomography, lumbar puncture, and magnetic resonance imaging, 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 Government is committed to transforming diagnostic services and will support the National Health Service in England to increase diagnostic capacity to meet the demand for diagnostic services through investment in new capacity, including magnetic resonance imaging and computed tomography scanners.