I will call Liz Jarvis to move the motion. I will then call the Minister to respond. I remind other Members that they may make a speech only with prior permission from the Member in charge and the Minister. As is the convention for 30-minute debates, there will not be an opportunity for the Member in charge to wind up.
That this House has considered dementia support in Hampshire.
It is a pleasure to serve under your chairship, Ms Lewell. We all know someone who has been impacted by dementia. My much-loved mum died in 2024 after a seven-year struggle with Alzheimer’s, so I know first hand what it is like to have to fight for the care and support that dementia sufferers need.
One in three people born today will develop dementia in their lifetime. Across Hampshire, more than 22,000 people are currently living with dementia. If national trends continue, that number is expected to rise to more than 31,000 by 2040. Dementia already places high pressure on families, the NHS and social care, and without decisive action that will only intensify. It is vital that we get the system right.
According to Dementia UK, 1,323 are living with dementia in Eastleigh, which is approximately 1.41% of the local population—higher than the national average.
This is a massive issue for each and every one of us. The hon. Lady has referred to figures in her constituency, but given Northern Ireland’s ageing population, the figures there are expected to almost double, rising from 22,000 to 43,000 by 2040. That poses major challenges for health and social care. Does she agree that to be forewarned is to be forearmed, and that the Government must make preparations to deal with the growing numbers by implementing changes to the system right now?
The average wait time for a dementia diagnosis in Eastleigh is 91.7 days, and post-diagnostic support is inconsistent and often inadequate. We must get to a position where dementia care is built around a clear, joined-up pathway that families can rely on from the very start and where a person can receive early diagnosis followed immediately by assessments, access to specialist advice, dementia-trained professionals and consistent points of contact, such as Admiral nurses. Drug treatments, where appropriate, home-based support, respite care and, where needed, smooth transitions into care homes, would all be part of one coherent system, not a maze of disconnected services. We need more support to stay at home and more support in the community, and family carers should be informed about available support and given greater access to regular respite. Diagnosis must be the gateway to timely, specialist and sustained support; too often it is not.
The hon. Member is making a powerful speech about an incredibly important subject. It affects my constituency, too, where we have 1,500 people living with dementia. On top of that, as she was referring to, around a third of the people currently living with dementia do not have a diagnosis and, staggeringly, the NHS does not have a target to tackle that. Will she join me in urging the Minister to meet with Alzheimer’s Research UK to discuss its call for a national 18-week target from when people are referred by their GP for assessment to when they receive diagnosis and a treatment plan?
I heard from a constituent whose wife has Lewy body dementia and has lived in the same care home for several years. She is settled there and knows the staff. They know her needs, her routines and her personality. It is, by any reasonable definition, her home. Yet my constituent has been told that when money for his wife’s self-funded care runs out, she will not be supported to remain there because the home is not on Hampshire county council’s approved list. She will be forced to move away from familiar faces into an unfamiliar environment at precisely the stage when stability and familiarity matter most.
Families impacted by dementia frequently find themselves navigating a fragmented system, unclear funding decisions, delayed assessments and a complete lack of continuity of care. One of my constituents told me that his mum, who is in her 90s, has been informed that her savings have now fallen below the financial threshold. He requested a review from the county council months ago. Despite repeated chasing, he has been told that it may be many months before their situation is reviewed. In the meantime he has been placed in the impossible position of having to somehow find the funds to continue to pay care home fees that he cannot afford or risking financial instability for the care provider. That is not how a compassionate system should function. Continuing healthcare funding must be urgently reviewed. Too many families face flawed assessments that fail to recognise the complex needs of people with dementia, leaving them to shoulder enormous financial burdens at the most vulnerable moments of their lives.
I am sorry to hear about the experience of my hon. Friend’s mother, and the experiences of my hon. Friend’s constituents. Many people in my constituency of North East Hampshire face similar challenges. I have personal experience with a relative who could not get a diagnosis in Hampshire despite many of us, as her family members, trying very hard to help her to do so. She ended up having to fund all her care herself, and did not get treatments that she might have needed. Does my hon. Friend agree that the Government must prioritise this care so that people with dementia can have continuity and the support that they need?
Of course, I absolutely agree with my hon. Friend. There is too much confusion and delay around accessing assessments for dementia patients and their carers, and too much focus placed on ticking boxes rather than determining the most cost-effective options available to families.
Hospital discharge is another major pressure point, as up to one in four beds are currently filled by someone with dementia. I have been contacted by families whose loved ones have spent weeks in hospital only to face discharge into home environments with minimal support. My constituent Nicola told me that the consultant and occupational therapist caring for her father said that he should not be discharged because of his high risk of falls, but that their hands were tied by the county council. She said that the family were told to supervise, rather than to provide care, and to wait for carers to arrive. That meant her father would be left at risk of falls and accidents, or left sitting in soiled clothing, because no one was allowed to intervene. Family carers should not have to go through such endless battles, facing constant uncertainty about support and being stretched to the limit just to get their loved ones the care they deserve.
The ambition in the Government’s 10-year health plan is to move care from hospitals into the community, with greater access to neighbourhood health centres. That ambition is welcome but it will succeed only if dementia specialist support is embedded at its core. Neighbourhood health services must include dementia-inclusive multidisciplinary teams with access to specialist dementia nurses. Changes to the Hampshire carer support and dementia advice service have compounded those challenges. For 12 years, that service was delivered by Andover Mind, which provided advice, guidance and vital emotional support. It was changed with very little notice, as part of Hampshire county council’s ongoing savings programme, which is addressing a projected shortfall of £143 million for the coming year. Chronic underfunding of local government has meant that such non-statutory services are often cut back, despite being lifelines for so many people across the county.
I can empathise with my hon. Friend’s experiences of caring for her mother. My father also died of dementia; we cared for him at home for many years. On a more positive note, I recently visited the St John’s dementia group in Winchester. It is a fantastic group with loads of activities—I joined them in singing “Sweet Caroline”, badly—and it provides vital support for those with dementia and for their carers by giving them some respite. Does my hon. Friend agree that we need to do all we can, at the local and national levels, to support such community groups, which provide light relief for people in very stressful, chronic situations?
I absolutely agree with my hon. Friend. When my mum was first diagnosed with dementia, one of the most important things for her was going to Singing for the Brain sessions, where people are encouraged to remember old songs. That was brilliant for her, but obviously it is not enough. When the condition starts to progress, it becomes harder and harder, yet the care that is needed is often not available, as I am setting out.
In a similar vein to the hon. Member for Winchester (Dr Chambers), it is important that families know where to access these voluntary sector services. The East Hampshire dementia services directory is a great initiative, as are voluntary groups such as Dementia Friendly Petersfield and Dementia-friendly Alton. The Alton group now has its own dedicated building and a full programme of activities; I have invited the Secretary of State to visit, as it is an interesting initiative to see. Will the hon. Lady join me in commending all the wonderful voluntary sector groups?
Absolutely. Community-based activities that keep people active, stimulated and social must be protected and expanded. Those services delay deterioration, reduce hospital admissions and improve quality of life for people living with dementia, and for their fantastic family carers.
At present, there is no Admiral nurse service in Eastleigh, leaving my constituents reliant on acute services, such as Wessex neurological centre or Winchester hospital. Admiral nurses provide specialised, dementia-specific care, offering expert guidance and continuity to families navigating a terrible disease in an increasingly complex system. Without that local, in-person support embedded in community care, families are more likely to face prolonged uncertainty at the very moment when specialist help would make the greatest difference. I urge the Government to adopt a new national dementia care pathway, backed by clear minimum service standards, that includes guaranteed support across the entire journey—from pre-diagnosis through to end-of-life care—standardised wait times and a meaningful post-diagnostic support plan for every person with dementia.
Improving dementia outcomes must also include wider access to new treatments. The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence has ruled that the drugs lecanemab and donanemab will not be provided on the NHS due to their cost. As a result, people with early stage Alzheimer’s disease in England and Wales will not have NHS access to medicines that have been shown to slow the progression of the disease. Will the Minister support an update to the NICE guidelines to reflect the growing pipeline of disease-modifying treatments, so that people who cannot afford to pay privately do not have to face long waits for innovative treatments?
I also highlight the need for greater consideration of the specific needs of people living with early onset dementia. According to Dementia UK, an estimated 70,800 people in the UK have early onset dementia, where symptoms develop before the age of 65, but diagnosis can take significantly longer for younger people and many are left with very limited post-diagnostic support. At their most vulnerable, they are forced to navigate health and social care systems that are designed for older people and take no account of mid-life responsibilities, such as dependent children, while facing the financial and psychological consequences of leaving employment early, as well as facing a terminal illness. That is why every integrated care system must be required to develop a clear, co-ordinated early onset dementia pathway.
I really appreciate serving under your chairship, Ms Lewell—I think it is one of the first times I have done so.
I thank the hon. Member for Eastleigh (Liz Jarvis) for securing this debate; I know that dementia support in Hampshire is a cause that is close to her heart. It is also very close to my heart—sadly, I lost my mother to Alzheimer’s in December 2023—and I know exactly what the hon. Lady means when she talks about what a tough time it is for everybody concerned. I also thank her for her huge efforts to raise awareness of the condition, and for her active participation in the all-party parliamentary group on dementia. Although the hon. Lady has brought to the table the subject of dementia support in Hampshire, I hope she will appreciate that I will cast the net somewhat wider in my response, because it is important to see services in Hampshire in the broader context.
Almost 1 million people across the UK are living with dementia. Every one of those people, as well as their friends, families and carers, have their own unique and important story of living with dementia. Even those united by geography will have vastly different experiences. Our goal is to make sure that those experiences differ because we are all fundamentally different people with different thoughts, feelings and backgrounds, and not because of unequal access to diagnoses, health services or support. As I am sure everyone present will agree, it is vital that every person with dementia receives high-quality, compassionate care from diagnosis through to the end of life.
The first step in delivering great care and support for those living with dementia is ensuring that they are able to get a diagnosis. The Alzheimer’s Society’s recent survey on lived experience told us that 96% of people affected by dementia reported a benefit to getting a diagnosis. It is, therefore, our duty to ensure that as many people as possible can access that benefit.
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Sitting suspended.
We must also address the needs of people living with rarer forms of dementia, those for whom English is a second language, and those, such as veterans, whose dementia is shaped by trauma. I have previously raised the fantastic work carried out by Veterans Dementia Support UK in my constituency, which provides vital help to former service personnel and their families, and recognises the complex relationship between dementia, post-traumatic stress disorder and past trauma. That specialist understanding must be reflected across the system.
Care home quality and workforce training are also critical. An estimated 70% of care home residents aged over 65 are living with dementia, yet only around a third of staff receive any dementia training. A statutory duty for dementia training across all Care Quality Commission-registered care providers is long overdue.
Dementia care is not just about systems, funding and targets, but about people, and what we would want for our own parents, partners and friends. I have seen the difference that inclusive, enriching care makes, whether through meaningful activities, music, poetry, or simply someone taking the time to understand the person behind the diagnosis. On constituency visits to Sunnybank House care home in Fair Oak, Brendoncare Knightwood care home and the HC-One Chandlers Ford care home, I have witnessed the professionalism and commitment of staff first hand. It is always a privilege to join Dementia Support Hampshire and Isle of Wight for its Christmas carols at St Andrews church in Eastleigh. It is a reminder that joy, connection and matter right to the end.
With our rapidly ageing population, it is crucial that more support is given to families coping with dementia, so that they do not have to jump through endless hoops to get support, and that those living with dementia are treated with the specialist care, compassion and dignity that they deserve.
I have previously spoken in this House about the impact of dementia and Alzheimer’s on my family and how, when a loved one is diagnosed with that terrible disease, you lose them twice. My constituent Nicola, whose father has dementia, has asked me to urge Members to
“think about how they would feel if it were happening to their loved one and how they would feel if their loved one had no-one to advocate for them to get the right help and support.”
I urge the Minister to listen to the experiences of families in Hampshire, to act on these recommendations, to work closely with Alzheimer’s Society, Dementia UK and Alzheimer’s Research UK, and to ensure that dementia care in this country is finally given the priority it demands.
We know that a diagnosis is the gateway to better care, support and potential treatments, and the least we can do is help those living with dementia, and their friends, families and carers, to step through that gateway. That is why we are committed to increasing diagnosis rates to the national ambition of two-thirds of those with dementia receiving a diagnosis. During the pandemic, we sadly dropped to lows of 61%. At the end of November 2025, the overall estimated dementia diagnosis rate for patients aged 65 and over was 66.5%, while the estimated dementia diagnosis rate for Hampshire was 64%. That is, of course, an overall increase from March 2020, due to sustained recovery efforts.
But even when they are armed with a diagnosis, many people have found that there is varying and unequal access to support. We know that our health system has struggled to support those with complex needs, including those living with dementia. People have braved incredibly difficult circumstances and faced hard, emotionally overwhelming conversations to get their diagnoses, and we cannot abandon them afterwards. That is why, under the 10-year plan, we will make sure that those living with dementia will benefit from improved care planning and better services. By 2027, 95% of those with complex needs will have an agreed care plan.
We have also committed to delivering the first ever modern service framework for frailty and dementia. This will help to deliver rapid and significant improvements in the quality of care and in productivity, and will be informed by phase 1 of the independent commission on adult social care led by Baroness Louise Casey, which is expected this year. The framework will seek to reduce unwarranted variation and to narrow inequality for those living with dementia. It will set national standards for dementia care and redirect NHS priorities to provide the best possible care and support.
We are committed to a well-supported adult social care workforce who are recognised as the professionals they are. The Department is supporting the professionalisation of the adult social care workforce through our recently expanded care workforce pathway, which provides a framework for progression and development opportunities so that people can build their skills and careers in care.
We launched a public consultation on the design of the fair pay agreement process—a major step towards implementing it in 2028. The consultation looked at how the process should operate, including who will be part of the negotiations and how the agreement will be implemented. The consultation closed on 16 January 2026. The regulations to establish the negotiating body and to bring together employer and employee representatives are expected to be laid this year. We expect negotiations on pay, terms and conditions and other matters such as training and career progression to be held in 2027. Once the body has reached an agreement on how the funding should be spent, the fair pay agreement will be implemented in 2028. The Government are backing that with a £500 million investment.
The 10-year health plan sets out how we will work towards a neighbourhood health service, with more care delivered locally to create healthier communities, spot problems sooner and integrate health into the social fabric of places. This is crucial for those living with dementia. Adult social care is part of our vision for a neighbourhood health service that shifts care from hospitals to communities, with more personalised, proactive and joined-up health and care services that help people to stay independent for as long as possible. Social care professionals will be a vital part of neighbourhood teams, working alongside the NHS to help people to stay independent for longer and playing an enhanced role in rehabilitation and recovery. Over time, the neighbourhood health service and the national care service will work hand in hand to help people to stay well and live independently.
I know it is disappointing that the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence has been unable to recommend the two new disease-modifying treatments for Alzheimer’s—lecanemab and donanemab—in the final draft guidance, but it is right that such decisions are evidence based and taken independently. NICE is a world-renowned health technology assessment body, and I remain confident in its methods and processes for ensuring that any new medicines recommended for use on the NHS provide the most health benefit at a cost-effective price to the taxpayer.
As announced in the life sciences sector plan, we are taking a number of measures to reduce friction and to optimise access to and uptake of new medicines. The measures will boost the speed of decisions and cut administrative burdens for the system and for industry. NICE and NHS England are doing the work to plan for the adoption of any new licensed and NICE-recommended treatments.
Research is crucial to support people living with dementia and their carers. The Government are investing in dementia research across all areas, from causes, diagnosis and prevention to treatment, care and support. The National Institute for Health and Care Research, which is funded by the Department of Health and Social Care, funds and supports impactful research. For example, NIHR infrastructure investment has supported the groundbreaking DROP-AD trial, which has shown that Alzheimer’s disease biomarkers can be detected using finger-prick blood samples. That is a really exciting development that brings us closer to accurate and timely diagnoses of dementia.
Research cannot take place without the incredible people who volunteer to be part of it. Through the NIHR, my Department works closely with charity partners in the delivery of joint dementia research. People with and without a diagnosis of dementia can use an online platform to sign up to take part in vital dementia research. I encourage everybody and anybody who might be watching this debate to register with the service, to help to shape the future for people living with dementia. We will continue to invest in dementia research in Hampshire and across the UK.
We recognise the vital role of unpaid carers and are fully committing to ensuring that they have the support they need. I chair a cross-Government ministerial group with the Department for Business and Trade, the Department for Education and the Department for Work and Pensions, all at the ministerial level. Through the measures in the 10-year health plan, we are equipping and supporting carers by making them more visible, empowering their voices in care planning, joining up services and streamlining their caring tasks by introducing a new “My Carer”section in the NHS app.
To support unpaid carers, on 7 April 2025 the Government increased the carer’s allowance weekly earnings limit from £151 to £196 a week—the equivalent of 16 hours at the national living wage. This was the largest cash increase since the carer’s allowance was introduced in 1976. As a result, more than 60,000 additional people will be able to receive carer’s allowance between 2025-26 and 2029-30.
We are reviewing the implementation of carer’s leave and considering the benefits of introducing paid leave for carers. On 19 November 2025, we published the terms of reference for the review of employment rights for unpaid carers, and in 2026 we will run a public consultation on employment support for unpaid carers. To help local authorities to fulfil their duties, including to unpaid carers, we are making around £4.6 billion of additional funding available for adult social care in 2028-29, compared with 2025-26.
I again thank the hon. Member for Eastleigh for bring forward such an important topic for discussion. Whether on research, the workforce or unpaid carers, we recognise that there is a tremendous amount to do. We have two work streams, one of which is the Casey commission, which will look at how we fundamentally rewire how we do care in our country, and the other is what the Government are doing immediately. We are not sitting on our hands and waiting for the Casey review; we are taking forward the measures that I have, I hope, outlined with sufficient clarity.
I absolutely recognise that there is a huge way to go. We have a mountain to climb on this. We are not going to fix our national health service unless we fix our care service; it is a deeply integrated ecosystem and we have to get both sides of it right. The 10-year plan and our plans for a neighbourhood health service are all about moving from fragmentation to integration, and that is the way we have to go if we are to get our health and care systems back on their feet and fit for the future.
It has been a real pleasure to respond to the hon. Member for Eastleigh. I hope I have reassured her that dementia is a priority for this Government, and that we are going to do all that we can to ensure that those living with dementia, and their loved ones and carers, are supported and cared for.