Ministers are to begin recruitment of a new national dementia tsar ‘shortly’, it has emerged.
The commitment to hire to the role, promised by the previous health secretary Wes Streeting, was made in a letter to Dame Louise Casey from the current health secretary James Murray, and the care minister Stephen Kinnock, published this week.
The letter is the government's full response to the social care independent commission chair, who called for a range of urgent measures, including a dementia tsar, in March.
It added the new Tsar would be expected to ‘champion and accelerate progress’ on plans to publish a ‘new modern service framework for dementia and frailty’ by the end of the year.
The framework will be an ‘outcome-led blueprint for how we deliver a once in a generation shift for people living with dementia,’ including ‘faster access to care, diagnosis and treatment ‘, ensuring ‘the right access to support; that allows people to ‘live well in their own neighbourhoods’ and how to ‘accelerate and prepare for the innovations that will transform care in the future,’ the letter adds.
The letter also says the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) will also ‘review’ its approach to the disease alongside its Arms Length Bodies (ALBs), which include the Care Quality Commission, to create ‘one coherent strategy ‘that spans from research to practice and brings together the right capability and capacity to make progress, and the full ambition of the modern service framework, a reality.’
Meanwhile, the ministers set out backing for Dame Casey’s call for urgent investment in dementia trials, confirming the government has adopted a target to increase participation in UK dementia trials to 2,000 people within the next five years, up from 377 in 2025 to 2026.
A package of measures is being developed to accelerate progress across its ‘discover, develop and deploy’ pipeline, including investment in diagnostic research and development calls, increased funding for the AD-SMART trial, the next phase of the Dementia Trials Accelerator and stronger multi-site research delivery infrastructure.
The department said this would strengthen the UK’s attractiveness for later-phase dementia trials and improve access to life-changing research for people with dementia, including those in the early stages, regardless of where they live.
Outside of dementia, the letter also said ministers have created a national adult safeguarding board, chaired by the chief social worker, Sarah McClinton, intended to strengthen accountability across the system. Ministers said the new body will “provide national oversight and scrutiny of adult safeguarding.”
The board will oversee updates to Care Act guidance and an urgent review of the legal framework, including how local safeguarding concerns are escalated nationally and whether additional statutory powers are required, the letter said, adding it will also aim to “strengthen national oversight of local Safeguarding Adults Boards and improve the quality of adult safeguarding practice.”
It’s not clear how much progress on these commitments will be slowed by the transition process to a new prime minister - and subsequent fresh ministerial team - after Keir Starmer resigned this week. Mr Starmer’s spokesperson said this morning there will be “no new major policy or spending commitments” before he stands down, according to reports.
