Progress for dementia care in the NHS 10-year Health Plan for England  

“A prescription to get the NHS back on its feet and make it fit for the future” – with those words the Health and Social Care Secretary, Wes Streeting MP, launched the new 10-year Health Plan for the NHS in England in early July. To develop the plan, the UK Government ran the largest ever consultation in the NHS’s history and gathered over 270,000 insights from health staff and the public. 

Since the plan was first announced, we have taken every opportunity to make sure that it reflects the needs of people affected by dementia. Over 5,000 of you shared your experiences, contacted your MPs, asking them to raise the issue with the Government and to attend a debate on dementia care in the House of Commons back in June.  

Now the plan has been published, there is still a lot to read through and digest, but on initial reading, it contains real potential. Thanks to your support, the Government has now committed to taking significant steps to improve dementia care. This progress shows that when we all work together to make our voices heard, it can make a real difference. 

What the 10-year Health Plan says about dementia

At 168 pages long, the plan covers a wide range of areas that will have an impact on the care that people living with dementia receive in England. Three key ambitions stand out: 

1. Shifting healthcare out of hospitals and into our communities by creating a Neighbourhood Health Service.  

We know that following a dementia diagnosis, too many people are left to cope alone. Many people with dementia end up in hospital unnecessarily, and for too long.  

The Neighbourhood Health Service aims to address this very issue by bringing care into local communities; convening different health and care professionals into patient-centred teams; and creating neighbourhood health centres which will be open at least 12 hours a day and 6 days a week.  

The ambition to bring together teams of professionals “directly to people’s’ doorsteps and make treatment more accessible and convenient” could be truly transformational for families affected by dementia if it includes the specialist clinical support that people living with the condition need. If specialist nurses, like Dementia UK’s Admiral Nurses, are included as core members of neighbourhood teams, people affected by dementia could receive more consistent ongoing care. 

2. Introducing a Modern Service Framework for dementia.

The 10-year Health Plan commits to developing a series of service frameworks to “accelerate progress in conditions where there is potential for rapid and significant improvements in quality of care and productivity”. And the Government has committed to publishing a Modern Service Framework for frailty and dementia by spring 2026. This will set standards for care and identify the best types of support that health professionals should provide.  

If delivered well, this could be an opportunity for real progress in joining up and improving dementia care. We are committed to doing all we can to feed expert insights and experiences from Admiral Nurses and people living with dementia into the framework’s development. 

3. Introducing a single patient record on the NHS app. 

Should the plan’s ambitions be achieved, improving data sharing between services and making it easier for people with dementia and their carers to access health information and manage appointments would be a very welcome step forward. For those that can’t use the NHS app, improving this digital service could free up more time for GPs to see people with more complex needs in person, which should include people with dementia. 

Let’s keep pushing dementia care up the agenda

While the 10-year Health Plan gives us reason to be hopeful, we still have questions about how it will be delivered and there is a lot more work to do. We will continue working alongside key decision-makers to shape the delivery of the plan and make sure it addresses the complexities of living with dementia. 

As a first step, we want to do all we can to help the Government improve care in people’s neighbourhoods. We agree it needs to happen, and it needs to happen urgently. But it will only be truly successful if it has the needs of people living with dementia baked in from the start. We know the impact that having an Admiral Nurse in every community across England could have, and we’re ready to work to make that a reality. 

Please email your MP and ask them to raise the importance of including Admiral Nurses in community health centres with the Health Secretary, Wes Streeting MP. It only takes two minutes using our simple tool.

Together, we can show the Government that fixing the NHS must include fixing dementia care. 

Accessing support now

While the NHS 10-year Health Plan for England could be very positive for people affected by dementia, it will take time to be delivered. 

Alongside campaigning for improvements to dementia care, Dementia UK provides support on all aspects of dementia. You can speak to an Admiral Nurse on our free Helpline on 0800 888 6678, email helpline@dementiauk.org, or book a phone or video call at a time that suits you.