Andy Burnham Urged to Set 18-Week Waiting Target for Dementia Care
Andy Burnham is being urged to set a national 18-week waiting-time target for dementia care in England.
The proposal was reported on 17 September. The Alzheimer's Society said there should be an 18-week standard from referral to treatment. No such target exists at present. BBC
Under the Society's plan, a person referred by a GP with suspected dementia would get an accurate diagnosis within 18 weeks. They would also get a care plan and access to treatment where appropriate. The Telegraph In NHS terms, the clock would run from referral to treatment, not just to a first assessment. Diagnosis and next steps would be counted together.
The proposal has the backing of Professor Sir Mike Richards, England's former national cancer director. He said the 18-week aim was achievable. Richards held the post when cancer waiting-time targets were brought in in 2000. Baroness Louise Casey, who is leading a major review of adult social care, has also backed the plan. BBC
Casey made a similar point in March. In a letter to the then Health Secretary Wes Streeting, she said the government should consider an 18-week target for dementia diagnosis. She is expected to publish her recommendations on social care reform next summer. Burnham said he will wait for those recommendations before deciding on changes to social care and how it is paid for.
The government's reply has been supportive but has not committed to a target. Social Care Minister Alison McGovern said she supported the Alzheimer's Society report on giving dementia the same focus as cancer. Ministers said they will appoint a dementia tsar, a senior lead for the work, and publish a modern service framework to speed up support by the end of the year.
The plan is part of a wider call for parity with cancer. A report called for a 'cancer-style revolution' in dementia care, with faster diagnosis, clearer treatment routes and rapid NHS access to promising new drugs. The Times On 27 July, the Alzheimer's Society published five priorities for the new prime minister, including a maximum 18-week wait from referral to diagnosis. That followed a survey of more than 1,000 adults across England. Alzheimer's Society England used to have a target that 66.7% of people living with dementia should have a diagnosis. That target has been removed.
About one million people are living with dementia in the UK, a figure expected to reach 1.4 million by 2040. Those figures are UK-wide. The target proposal and the Casey review apply to England, where health and adult social care are devolved and run separately from Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. Burnham cancelled engagements earlier in the week after the death of his father Roy, who had Alzheimer's disease.
The broader context here is timing. A service framework by December and a tsar give departments work to finish this year, while bigger decisions on entitlements and funding wait until Casey's report next summer. The choice between a diagnosis-only measure and a fuller measure with care planning will decide what is counted, and where pressure falls on memory services, GPs and social care.
Looking at what this means for ministers, the politics are direct. An 18-week standard copied from cancer uses a system the NHS already knows, but it would create a new line of accountability where none exists. On Burnham's stated timetable, the decision will not be taken separately from Casey's conclusions on reform and funding.
