New figures published by the NHS have revealed a record number of people living in England being diagnosed with dementia.
Affecting more than 944,000 people in the UK, dementia is a neurodegenerative condition that affects the ability to remember, think or make decisions in everyday life, and around a third of those living with the disease in England do not have a diagnosis.
Currently, England has one of the highest dementia diagnosis rates in the world, with the latest NHS figures showing a record of 487,432 people in England being diagnosed with dementia as of June.
Since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, dementia diagnosis rates have been at their highest of 65% and, according to the latest figures, 86,434 people diagnosed with dementia had their medication reviewed in the preceding 12 months, compared to 77,112 in June 2023.
However, the NHS intends to meet its ambition to diagnose 66.7% of the total number of people that estimates suggest are living with a form of the neurological disease.
Dr Jeremy Isaacs, national clinical director for dementia, NHS England, commented: “Getting a diagnosis of dementia is the first step in supporting people, with a wide range of NHS services able to help.”
In an effort to achieve this, the NHS is encouraging timely diagnosis for dementia and is proactively assessing care home residents to support identification of people who may have dementia to increase the number of patients.
Dr Alex Osborne, policy manager at Alzheimer’s Society, said: “An early, accurate diagnosis is vital for unlocking care, support and treatment.
“It’s great to see the progress being made on diagnosing more people with dementia in England, and we welcome the NHS’ acknowledgement that there’s still more to do.”
In January, the UK government announced nearly £50m in funding to the Dementia Translational Collaboration Trials Network to expand the number of dementia research sites across the UK.
Most recently, in July, the World Health Organization published a new implementation toolkit for the Intersectoral global action plan on epilepsy and other neurological disorders, which outlined specific actions and resources to help countries improve services for people living with neurological disorders.