Dementia remains one of the most significant health and care challenges in England and across the UK as populations age and life expectancy increases. As of 2025, over half a million people in England have a formal diagnosis of dementia, with figures continuing to rise year on year.

Dementia is a core priority for NHS England, the wider NHS, and national government, aligned with the 10 Year Health and Care Plan and the forthcoming Frailty and dementia modern service framework.

By the end of this decade, our ambition is that:

• people living with dementia and their carers receive equitable, proactive, and personalised care, including timely diagnosis and consistent post-diagnostic support and care including access to NICE-recommended interventions
• dementia care is integrated across all healthcare and community services, delivered close to home and tailored to individual needs
• urgent and emergency care meets the needs of people living with dementia, ensuring timely assessment, safe crisis support and appropriate integrated hospital and community interventions
• technology and digital innovation  support care planning, remote monitoring, self- management and improved communication between services and the person living with dementia and their families and carers
• the UK is a global leader in dementia research and innovation, translating scientific advances into practice and improving outcomes for people and families
• dementia services deliver positive outcomes across the life trajectory, including prevention, early intervention, health equity, reduced severity, and maximised independence

Our partners

All dementia stakeholders across health and social care and Voluntary, Community, and Social Enterprise (VCSE) sectors are crucial to helping NHS England deliver improvements to services for those with dementia and their carers. NHS England and the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) will work with a broad range of stakeholders including (but not limited to)  Dementia UK, Alzheimer’s Society, Alzheimer’s Research UK, NHS regions and ICBs, SCIE, ADASS, Care UK, Royal College of General Practitioners (RCGP), Royal College of Psychiatrists (RCPsych), to develop the Frailty and dementia modern service framework as set out in the 10 Year Health Plan to transform care for people with dementia.

Our work

Timely and quality diagnosis

• Improve public awareness and skills  of all health and social care staff supporting people living with dementia to ensure timely, accurate, and equitable diagnosis.
• Embed new  diagnostic tools (for example,  biomarkers and digital assessments) where appropriate to improve  timely identification and care planning.

Post-diagnostic support and care

• Ensure everyone diagnosed with dementia has access to post diagnostic support in line with NICE guidelines, including personalised care plans, access to community services, cognitive stimulation, and carer support.
• Focus efforts on sustaining independence, reducing avoidable harms, and enhancing quality of life.

Workforce development and training

• All health and care staff working with people affected by dementia will receive role appropriate, evidence-based training in dementia, frailty, and person-centred care.
• Actively address inequities in access, diagnosis, support, and outcomes for people from underserved communities, including ethnic minority communities, rural populations, and those with complex frailty or multimorbidity.

Alignment  with frailty and long-term conditions pathways

• Ensure clear alignment of dementia pathway with those for frailty, multimorbidity, and long– term conditions, ensuring care reflects individuals’ holistic health and social needs.

Research and innovation

• Support research partnerships to accelerate development of disease modifying treatments, prevention strategies, and personalised care models.

Supporting dementia research

Studies suggest that many people with dementia want to take part in research but don’t know how to get involved, which is why NHS England is encouraging healthcare professionals to signpost patients to  Join Dementia Research.

Join Dementia Research provides clinicians with an easy way to help people register their interest in taking part in many different types of dementia research, without the need to have an intricate knowledge of research itself. When people sign up to Join Dementia Research, the information they provide is used to match them to studies they may be able to take part in online and in their local area. Anyone over 18 in the UK can sign up – with or without a dementia diagnosis. Signing up does not mean that they must participate, only that they are happy to be contacted.

The service is run by the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) in partnership with Alzheimer Scotland, Alzheimer’s Research UK and Alzheimer’s Society.

To help clinicians promote the service, Join Dementia Research has created a toolkit for healthcare professionals. The toolkit includes resources such as leaflets, posters, and case studies on healthcare professionals who have promoted the service.

Research is currently focusing on new interventions for people in the early stages of dementia, making it important that people take part to improve our understanding of dementia, as well as shape services and treatments available to patients in the NHS. For more information, visit the NIHR’s web pages on dementias and neurodegeneration research.

Dementia 100

Dementia 100: pathway assessment and improvement tool is a core resource to support local systems to assess, plan and improve dementia care pathways. Developed by the National Collaborating Centre for Mental Health (NCCMH) and commissioned by DHSC, Dementia 100 provides a structured, evidence- based framework to help systems understand how well their dementia pathway is working and where improvements are needed.

The tool supports a whole pathway approach, spanning:

• prevention and risk reduction
• assessment and diagnosis
• post diagnostic support
• ongoing care and support
• crisis, urgent and end of life care

Dementia 100 brings together best practice guidance, quality standards and the lived experience of people affected by dementia. It is designed to support commissioners, providers and system partners to work collaboratively, identify gaps, reduce unwarranted variation and drive continuous improvement.

Dementia 100 builds on, and should be used alongside, the Dementia Care Pathway: full implementation guidance, published by the National Collaborating Centre for Mental Health  (NCCMH) in July 2018 and commissioned by NHS England. This guidance sets out key commissioning, service design and delivery considerations to support high quality dementia care across the pathway.

Together, these resources support a shift from the focus on diagnosis alone towards whole system improvement, encompassing quality, integration, personalisation and outcomes for people living with dementia and their families.

Additional resources to support implementation include:

• High impact change model: Improving the timely and effective discharge of people with dementia and delirium into the community
• RightCare dementia scenario

If you have any questions please email: england.dapi.mh@nhs.net