Asked by: Liz Jarvis (Liberal Democrat - Eastleigh)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking to improve training for health and social care staff in supporting patients with frontotemporal dementia.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Our health system has struggled to support those with complex needs, including those with dementia. Under the 10 Year Health Plan, those living with dementia will benefit from improved care planning and better services.
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 in 2026.
The Modern Service Framework for Frailty and Dementia will seek to reduce unwarranted variation and narrow inequality for those living with dementia; it will set national standards for dementia care and redirect National Health Service priorities to provide the best possible care and support.
We want all health and care staff to have received appropriate training to provide high quality care to people with dementia. Employers in the health system are responsible for ensuring that their staff are trained to the required standards to deliver appropriate treatment for patients. The required training needs are set out in the Dementia Training Standards Framework, which is available through Skills for Health.
In January, we announced that the Care Workforce Pathway will expand to further support opportunities for career progression and development.
The Care Workforce pathway is designed to be a foundation which will enable individuals to develop a ‘portable portfolio’ of skills attained both through learning programmes and practical experience within a range of care services, such as learning disabilities, autism or dementia.
Asked by: Liz Jarvis (Liberal Democrat - Eastleigh)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment he has made of the adequacy of the support available to (a) families and (b) carers of people with frontotemporal dementia.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Government recognises the vital role of families and unpaid carers and is committed to improving dementia care and ensuring carers have the support they need.
Under the 10 Year Health Plan, those living with dementia will benefit from improved care planning and better services. 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.
To support carers, we are equipping and supporting carers by making them more visible, empowering their voices in care planning, joining up services, and streamlining their caring tasks by introducing a new ‘MyCarer’ section to the NHS App. The Government is also reviewing the implementation of carer’s leave and the potential benefits of introducing paid leave.
From 7 April, the Carer's Allowance weekly earnings limit increased from £151 to £196, the largest rise since its introduction. Local authorities, under the Care Act 2014, have a duty to provide high-quality, sustainable support services for carers.
Asked by: Al Pinkerton (Liberal Democrat - Surrey Heath)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment his Department has made of the potential merits of increasing funding for dementia care services in Surrey Heath constituency.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Under the 10 Year Health Plan, those living with dementia will benefit from improved care planning and better services.
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 in 2026.
The standard operating procedures of the Surrey Heath Older Adults Mental Health Services, which includes memory clinics, have been reviewed and found to meet the requirements of facilitating appropriate referral routes and service inclusion criteria. Improvement work is also in progress to enhance dementia training and access to specialist support for staff on the Surrey and Borders Partnership National Health Service Foundation Trust’s older adult mental health ward dealing with dementia at the Meadows Unit.
Asked by: Lord Kamall (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the effectiveness of neighbourhood health centres on improving the diagnosis rate for dementia in rural communities.
Answered by Baroness Merron - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
A timely diagnosis is vital to ensuring that a person with dementia can access the advice, information, care, and support that can help them to live well and remain independent for as long as possible. We remain committed to recovering the dementia diagnosis rate to the national ambition of 66.7%.
The Neighbourhood Health Service will bring together teams of professionals closer to people’s homes to work together to provide comprehensive care in the community. Whilst no specific assessment has been made regarding dementia diagnosis rates, we expect neighbourhood teams and services to be designed in a way that reflects the specific needs of local populations. While we will be clear on the outcomes we expect, we will give significant licence to tailor the approach to local need. While the focus on personalised, coordinated care will be consistent, that will mean the services will look different in rural communities, coastal towns, and/or deprived inner cities.
Our health system has struggled to support those with complex needs, including those with dementia. Under the 10-Year Health Plan, those living with dementia will benefit from improved care planning and better services.
Asked by: Matt Vickers (Conservative - Stockton West)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking to improve access to NHS Continuing Healthcare for people with (a) young onset dementia and (b) other forms of dementia.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Our national statutory guidance, the National framework for NHS Continuing Healthcare and NHS-funded Nursing Care, outlines that access to NHS Continuing Healthcare (CHC) assessment, care provision, and support should be fair, consistent, and free from discrimination. This national statutory guidance is available at the following link:
Eligibility for CHC is not determined by diagnosis or condition. Individuals can be identified and referred for CHC assessments by a variety of health or social care practitioners who have been trained and are known to the individual. Individuals and families can also request a CHC assessment from a health and care practitioner.
Integrated care boards should make the CHC Public Information Leaflet available to members of the public, for example through local National Health Service websites, hard copies on hospital wards, through primary care outlets, local care homes, and local voluntary sector organisations. This Public Information Leaflet containing further information on CHC is available at the following link:
NHS England has also commissioned an information and advice service for CHC, supplied by Beacon, which individuals and their families might find helpful, and which is available at the following link:
https://beaconchc.co.uk/how-we-can-help/free-information-and-advice-on-nhs-continuing-healthcare/
Asked by: Edward Morello (Liberal Democrat - West Dorset)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what discussions his Department has had with NHS Dorset Integrated Care Board on improving (a) dementia diagnosis and (b) care pathways in West Dorset constituency.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Department of Health and Social Care engages regularly with integrated care boards (ICBs) on a number of matters, including dementia.
Through such engagement, we are aware that GPs and frailty teams are being supported by the ICB and Memory Assessment Services (MAS) to start using the Diagnosing Advanced Dementia Mandate (DiADeM) diagnostic tool within the care home population. Patients and their carers are referred to the support offered by partner charity Help and Care’s wider community services on acceptance to the MAS, so they can be matched with appropriate support and information while they wait for an assessment and possible diagnosis.
The post-diagnosis Dementia Coordinator service is then made directly available when the person receives a dementia diagnosis for more long-term coordinated support response and information around living well with the condition. This is and will be a pan-Dorset service, providing equity across the county.
Under the Government’s 10-Year Health Plan, those living with dementia will benefit from improved care planning and better services. 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.
Asked by: Jim Shannon (Democratic Unionist Party - Strangford)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he is taking to improve levels of early diagnoses of dementia.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
We are committed to recovering the dementia diagnosis rate (DDR) to the national ambition of 66.7%. The estimated DDR for patients aged 65 years old and over at the end of July 2025 was 66.1%. The rate is an increase of 0.3% compared to the 65.8% in June 2025. This is an overall increase from March 2020 due to sustained recovery efforts.
The Government’s Dame Barbara Windsor Dementia Goals programme has already invested £13 million into a range of biomarker innovation projects which include a broad range of biomarker technologies, ranging from an artificial intelligence tool designed to improve the accuracy of blood tests for dementia, to using retinal scans to detect early-onset dementia decades before symptoms. Some of these innovations could support improved diagnosis in the future, if validated for clinical use.
We will also deliver the first ever Modern Service Framework for Frailty and Dementia, in order to deliver rapid and significant improvements in the quality of care and productivity. This will be informed by phase one of the independent commission into adult social care, expected in 2026.
The Modern Service Framework for Frailty and Dementia will seek to reduce unwarranted variation and narrow inequality for those living with dementia and will also set national standards for dementia care and redirect National Health Service priorities to provide the best possible care and support.
Asked by: Mohammad Yasin (Labour - Bedford)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will (a) review and (b) update the NHS Continuing Healthcare guidance to ensure that mobility assessments fully consider the impact of severe dementia and other cognitive impairments on an person's care needs.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
There are no plans to update NHS Continuing Healthcare (CHC) guidance regarding mobility assessments or specialist assessments by dementia nurses. The CHC assessment process is supported by the Decision Support Tool. This provides practitioners with a way to bring together and record an individual’s needs in the twelve ‘care domains’, including mobility. The assessment should consider the ways in which an individual’s needs interact with one another, for example how cognition impacts on mobility.
Eligibility for CHC is not determined by diagnosis or condition but is assessed on a case-by-case basis considering the totality of an individual’s needs, ensuring a person-centred approach. Someone with specialist knowledge of an individual’s condition, for example dementia, should be involved in the process. Assessments should take into account evidence from a comprehensive range of assessments relating to the individual. For individuals with dementia, this could include specialist assessments by dementia nurses.
Asked by: Matt Vickers (Conservative - Stockton West)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether he plans to include specialist assessments by dementia nurses as standard evidence in NHS Continuing Healthcare eligibility decisions.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
There are no plans to update NHS Continuing Healthcare (CHC) guidance regarding mobility assessments or specialist assessments by dementia nurses. The CHC assessment process is supported by the Decision Support Tool. This provides practitioners with a way to bring together and record an individual’s needs in the twelve ‘care domains’, including mobility. The assessment should consider the ways in which an individual’s needs interact with one another, for example how cognition impacts on mobility.
Eligibility for CHC is not determined by diagnosis or condition but is assessed on a case-by-case basis considering the totality of an individual’s needs, ensuring a person-centred approach. Someone with specialist knowledge of an individual’s condition, for example dementia, should be involved in the process. Assessments should take into account evidence from a comprehensive range of assessments relating to the individual. For individuals with dementia, this could include specialist assessments by dementia nurses.
Asked by: Adam Jogee (Labour - Newcastle-under-Lyme)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what recent estimate he has made of the number of people with dementia in (a) Newcastle-under-Lyme, (b) Staffordshire and (c) England in the next five years.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
No specific estimate has been made for the number of people with dementia in the next five years.