Minister to say the disease has "been neglected for too long" as Alzheimers Society and King's Fund report calls for clearer national leadership amid six-month wait for promised Tsar.
People living with dementia are being failed by a fragmented system that remains “stuck in the last century”, according to a new report from Alzheimer’s Society and The King’s Fund, which calls for a cancer-style transformation in diagnosis, treatment and support.
Published today to coincide with the Alzheimer’s Society annual conference, the report argues that the progress achieved in cancer care over recent decades should provide a blueprint for improving dementia services.
The organisations said dementia is now the UK’s biggest killer, yet many people face long waits for diagnosis and inconsistent access to treatment and support. Around one in three people living with dementia does not have a formal diagnosis, while Alzheimer’s Society said half of carers report that their relative waited more than six months for a diagnosis.
The report calls for clearer national leadership, diagnosis and treatment targets, improved data collection and greater investment in research and innovation.
Alzheimer’s Society chief executive Michelle Dyson said: “Urgency is critical. Dementia is the UK’s biggest killer, and we cannot afford for this to take 50 years.”
The comments come six months after the government backed Baroness Casey's call for a national Dementia Tsar and said recruitment would 'begin shortly', and two months after health secretary Yvette Cooper said recruitment would begin shortly, with no appointment yet announced.
Mental Health and Social Care Minister Alison McGovern said in a parliamentary answer earlier this month that arrangements for the role were still being progressed and that further details would be published "in due course".
Cancer care blueprint
The Alzheimer's Society is calling for people to receive a dementia diagnosis, care plan and access to treatment within 18 weeks of referral by a GP, mirroring the type of nationally defined expectations that have helped drive improvements in cancer care.
The report draws parallels with cancer services in the 1970s, when outcomes varied significantly, and treatment pathways were less developed.
Backing the report, former national cancer director Sir Mike Richards said the conditions are now in place for a similar transformation in dementia care.
He said: “I do believe that the conditions are right for the same revolution in dementia that we have seen for cancer.”
The report notes that cancer survival rates have improved substantially over the past five decades following sustained political focus, national strategies, clear care pathways and better access to diagnosis and treatment.
“Neglected for far too long”
Responding to the report, Ms McGovern acknowledged that dementia had been "neglected for far too long".
Due to speak at the conference later today, McGovern is expected to reiterate government plans to publish the first modern service framework for frailty and dementia later this year. The framework has been trailed by previous health ministers as a vehicle for setting national standards, reducing variation in care and improving coordination between health and social care services.
Ms McGovern said the framework would bring health and care professionals together around "a set of clear national standards", helping to improve the consistency and quality of support available to people living with dementia and their families.
"We must put a floor under the kind of care that people can expect," she will say. "And we must improve quality of care, giving the workforce the direction and support it needs to reach those standards."
She will add the government wanted "a future where our loved ones stay with us for more years with more joy and more life to live".
