Publication, Part of Recorded Dementia Diagnoses

Recorded Dementia Diagnoses - August 2020

Official statistics

Publication Date:: 24 Sep 2020
Geographic Coverage:: England
Geographical Granularity:: Clinical Commissioning Groups, Clinical Commissioning Regions, GP practices, Sustainability and Transformation Partnerships, Regions
Date Range:: Snapshot on 31 Aug 2020

Summary

We collect and publish data about people with dementia at each GP practice, so that the NHS (GPs and commissioners) can make informed choices about how to plan their services around their patient’s needs.

This 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.

The outbreak of Coronavirus (COVID-19) has led to unprecedented changes in the work and behaviour of General Practices and subsequently the data within this publication will be impacted, including indicators and contextual data from Patients Registered in a GP Practice.

This data is extracted through General Practice Extraction Service therefore the burden of the Coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak has not affected the data collection of this publication. The data has been impacted by COVID19, including the diagnosis rate (of those aged 65 or over estimated to have dementia have dementia), however we are currently analysing the outputs to understand the impact.

As such we urge caution in drawing any conclusions from these data without consideration of the country's circumstances as of 31st August 2020 and would recommend that any uses of these data are accompanied by an appropriate caveat.

Recorded dementia diagnosis rate

441,447 have a coded diagnosis of dementia as at 31st August 2020, an increase of 133 since 31st July 2020

Diagnosis rate in those aged 65 and over

63.1% of those aged 65 or over estimated to have dementia have a coded diagnosis of dementia as at 31st August 2020. A decrease from 63.2% in 31st July 2020.

Medication reviews for people with a coded diagnosis of dementia

90,681 (20.5%) of those with a record of receiving a dementia care plan or dementia care plan review by their GP practice at 31st August 2020 had their medication reviewed by a GP in the preceding 12 months