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Publication, Part of

Primary Care Dementia Data, October 2023

Official statistics

Change in terminology

From November 2023 the term 'early onset dementia' has been replaced with 'young onset dementia' in this publication in order to match internationally agreed terminology. There have been no changes to how these counts have been calculated and data is comparable to previous months where the 'early onset dementia' term was used.

Changes have been made to the following files:

  • Primary Care Dementia Data, October 2023: Summary
  • Primary Care Dementia Data, October 2023: Young onset and incidence by NHS Organisation
  • Primary Care Dementia Data, 2023-24: Data Dictionary

1 October 2023 00:00 AM

Summary

NHS England collect and publish data about people with dementia at each GP practice in England, to enable NHS GPs and commissioners to make informed choices about how to plan their dementia services around patients’ needs.

The publication includes the rate of dementia diagnosis. As not everyone with dementia has a formal diagnosis, this statistic compares the number of people thought to have dementia with the number of people diagnosed with dementia, aged 65 and over. Where current monthly data for a GP practice is unavailable, the most recent data available are used (up to a maximum of 6 months).

Prior to October 2022, dementia data was collected via the dementia data core contract service and published as the "Recorded Dementia Diagnoses" series. The data in these two publication series are not comparable. This is due to the retrospective application of codes to patient records and changes in patient registration, as well as differences in coverage and the specification of several the counts.

Refer to the ‘Related Links’ for the supporting information page where details on these changes can be found.


Key Facts

Recorded dementia diagnosis

477,606 patients had a recorded diagnosis of dementia on 31 October 2023, an increase of 2,033 patients since 30 September 2023.

Diagnosis rate in those aged 65 and over

64.5% of patients aged 65 or over who are estimated to have dementia, had a recorded diagnosis of dementia on 31 October 2023, an increase from 64.3% on 30 September 2023.

Medication reviews

153,377 (32.1%) of those with a recorded diagnosis of dementia on 31 October 2023 had their medication reviewed in the preceding 12 months.



Resources



Last edited: 16 November 2023 9:31 am