This data collection will be used by NHS England to monitor diagnosis rates for dementia during the period that the data are collected. Collecting dementia diagnosis data broken down by age and gender, as well as ethnicity group, will allow NHS England to monitor dementia diagnoses rates.
NHS England requires NHS Digital to collect dementia data to support the Prime Minister's challenge on dementia 2020 and the 2019- 2020 General Medical Services (GMS) contract.
The Prime Minister's challenge on dementia 2020 builds on the initial Prime Minister's challenge on dementia. A key part of this initial challenge was to improve dementia diagnosis rates so more patients suffering from dementia would be given a formal diagnosis and therefore receive the appropriate care and support. The challenge highlighted the importance of improving the dementia diagnosis rates in black, asian and minority ethnic groups as evidence suggests that dementia diagnosis in these groups is particularly poor.
Dementia data is an established data collection that has been running since 2015.
These data are being collected on behalf of NHS England (NHSE) and the Department of Health and Social Care to help ensure that there is an accurate national count of the numbers of patients diagnosed so that national and local initiatives can respond appropriately and monitor increases.