Andy Burnham urged to set dementia waiting-time target
Summary
Prime Minister Andy Burnham is being asked to set a national goal for how long people with dementia should wait to start treatment in England. Experts and advocacy groups propose an 18-week target, similar to cancer care waiting times, to improve dementia services.Key Facts
- Alzheimer’s Society and King's Trust call for an 18-week referral-to-treatment target for dementia care in England.
- Professor Sir Mike Richards and Baroness Louise Casey support this proposal, comparing it to cancer care reforms.
- Dementia currently has no waiting-time target, unlike cancer, where such targets exist in the NHS.
- Social Care Minister Alison McGovern supports improving dementia care and plans to appoint a specialist ("dementia tsar").
- The government aims to publish a new plan to improve dementia support by the end of the year.
- About one million people in the UK live with dementia, expected to rise to 1.4 million by 2040.
- Andy Burnham has personal experience with dementia, as his late father had Alzheimer’s, which motivates his reform efforts.
- Burnham plans to wait for Baroness Casey's social care review recommendations before making major changes.
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