[A version of this item appears in: Dementia: the Latest Evidence Newsletter (RWHT), Volume 2 Issue 9, April 2012].
Summary
This Department of Health publication clarifies the scope of the Prime Minister’s challenge on dementia. This “challenge” sets out an ambitious programme of work to achieve major improvements in dementia care and research by 2015, while building on the existing National Dementia Strategy. Section headings comprise:
- Key commitments.
- Driving improvements in health and care.
- Creating dementia-friendly communities that understand how to help.
- Better research.
- Next steps.
- Conclusion.
- Annex A: List of actions.
- Annex B: Dementia Care and Support Compact.
Read more: Prime Minister’s challenge on dementia (Department of Health).
Planned Improvements to Health and Care
Specific commitments include:
- Increased diagnosis rates through regular checks for over-65s.
- Financial rewards for hospitals offering quality dementia care. From April 2012, a £54m Dementia Commissioning for Quality and Innovation (CQUIN) will incentivise hospitals to offer dementia risk assessments to all patients over-75. From April 2013, the CQUIN is to be extended to the quality of dementia care delivered. From April 2013, all CQUIN payments will depend on the delivery of support for carers in line with the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) / Social Care Institute for Clinical Excellence (SCIE) dementia care guidelines.
- An Innovation Challenge Prize of £1m will be available for NHS staff to win up to £1m for innovative ideas in transforming dementia care.
- A Dementia Care and Support Compact will be endorsed by leading care home and home care providers. Ten such leading organisations have stated their commitment to delivering high-quality “relationship-based” care and support services for people with dementia. The wider community will be engaged and involved in this work, it is hoped.
- Promotion of local information on dementia services. An information service pioneered by NHS South West, will be promoted from March 2012 and rolled out across the south by the end of 2012. From April 2013, comparable information will be made available across the rest of the country. The Care and Support White Paper will aim to ensure all people receiving care and support get better information to support their care choices.
Creating Dementia Friendly Communities
Specific commitments include:
- Dementia-friendly communities will be established across the country. By 2015, up to 20 cities, towns and villages should have signed up to become more dementia-friendly.
- The PM’s Challenge on Dementia is expected to receive support from leading businesses. Leading national organisations have pledged to investigate how to play an active role in creating a more dementia friendly society and help raise awareness about dementia.
- From Autumn 2012 to 2015, a nationwide campaign is going to raise awareness of dementia. This will draw on findings from previous campaigns.
- During the Summer 2012, the PM’s Challenge on Dementia will receive support from UK leaders in industry, academia and the public sector.
Better Research
Specific commitments include:
- Overall funding for dementia research will more than double to over £66m per year by 2015: i.e. the combined funding of the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR), Medical Research Council (MRC) and Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) research into dementia will increase from £26.6m (2009/10) to around £66.3m (2014/15).
- Major investment is to be made in brain scanning. The Medical Research Council (MRC) will invest more heavily in dementia research using the BioBank. Piloting the brain scans of a subset of this national cohort is expected to cover 50,000–100,000 participants.
- There is to be £13m funding for social science research on dementia (via the NIHR and ESRC).
- There is to be £36m funding over 5 years for an NIHR dementia translational research collaboration, to convert research discoveries into real benefits for patients.
- There are to be four new NIHR biomedical research units in dementia. Biomedical research centres which conduct dementia-themed research will be expected to share their resources and expertise to improve treatment and care.
- Offering people the opportunity to participate in high-quality research is to be made one of the conditions specified for the accreditation of memory services.
Champions and Champion Groups
Champions driving improvements in health and care:
Co-chairs: Sir Ian Carruthers (NHS South West) and Sarah Pickup (ADASS).
Champions creating dementia-friendly communities that understand how to help:
Co-chairs: Jeremy Hughes (Alzheimer’s Society) and Angela Rippon.
Champions for better research:
Led by the Ministerial Advisory Group on Dementia Research (MAGDR). Co-chairs: Dame Sally C. Davies and Sir Mark Walport (Wellcome Trust).
Reference
Prime Minister’s challenge on dementia: delivering major improvements in dementia care and research by 2015. Leeds: Department of Health, March 26th 2012. Gateway reference no. 17392.
