Failure to identify dementia cases linked to remote GP consultations during pandemic

PROGRESS on dementia has stalled, Sajid Javid has admitted, after patients struggled to access NHS services.

In a speech delivered at the Alzheimer’s Society Annual Conference, in London, the Health Secretary said that 1.6 million people in the UK were expected to be suffering from dementia by 2040, up from around 900,000 now.

Advances had been made in recent years, Mr Javid said, “but the pandemic has stemmed the tide of progress”.

He added: “It became harder for some people to get a timely diagnosis, because the pandemic made it more difficult to access memory assessment services.”

Mr Javid’s comments came as he promised a 10-year plan to tackle the disease. “I’d like us to be as bold as we’ve been with our 10-year plan for cancer,” he said. The plan, to be published this year, would focus on prevention, as two fifths of dementia was preventable. But Mark Macdonald, associate director of advocacy and system change at the Alzheimer’s Society, said Mr Javid’s words would “mean nothing if not backed by ambitious funding and delivery mechanisms”.

Prof Alistair Burns, national clinical director for dementia and older people’s mental health, said opportunities to diagnose dementia had been lost when GP appointments were carried out remotely during the pandemic.

The number of people at risk of dementia referred for assessment had declined from 147,000 pre-pandemic to 112,000 in the past six months, he added.