Dementia care focus is long overdue

Last week, the Government unveiled its eagerly anticipated long-term plan for the NHS. This sets out a ten year health plan for England.

The plan had been trailed as a “reform or die” moment for the NHS and we welcome the ambitions outlined in the plan.

Dementia affects almost one million people across the UK. One in two of us will be diagnosed with dementia or caring for someone living with dementia in the future.

For that reason, we are very pleased to see long overdue recognition of the impact of dementia on both health and social care systems. We welcome the announcement of a modern service framework for dementia and frailty. Importantly, this framework will be informed by the Commission on Social Care. This signals an encouraging move towards greater integration of support for dementia carers. We look forward to seeing how this is developed over the next year.

The plan places emphasis on:

• moving care from hospitals to the community
• focusing on prevention
• improving the digital landscape

These approaches should improve access to support for dementia carers. They will provide a much better local and national understanding of dementia carers’ needs.  

We look forward to engaging with the Commission. Dementia carers have told us what support will make the biggest difference to them, including having access to a single point of contact, who can support them in navigating across the health and social care systems.