Enhancing the Dementia Care Pathway

Northamptonshire ‘Sprint’ Outputs

Curia UK’s “Enhancing the Dementia Care Pathway: Northamptonshire ‘Sprint’ Outputs” report outlines strategies to improve dementia care pathways, particularly through earlier intervention and streamlined diagnosis. It highlights significant barriers in existing pathways, including delays in recognising early onset dementia, especially in those under 65, and difficulties in accessing timely care due to reliance on GP referrals.

The sprint emphasised direct referrals to memory assessment services to reduce bottlenecks and speed up diagnosis. Additionally, the report stresses the importance of public health campaigns and clinician education to improve early detection.

The findings show a need for tailored support for younger dementia patients, including better awareness of their specific needs in workplaces and families. This cohort is more likely to face employment challenges, so enhanced occupational health support and clearer communication on employment rights are recommended. The report also calls for improving post-diagnosis care, focusing on helping patients live well with dementia. The proposed model, based on Northamptonshire’s care pathway, aims to be scalable across the UK, addressing variability in dementia diagnosis and care nationally by integrating early intervention and more comprehensive post-diagnosis support into existing care pathways.

A Message from Curia’s Health, Care and Life Sciences Research Group Advisers

Lord James O’Shaughnessy

Former Health Minister, Curia’s Health, Care and Life Sciences Research Group Adviser

Gillian Leng CBE

Curia’s Health, Care and Life Sciences Research Group Adviser

One year on from the publication of the Dementia Commission’s 2023 Report, the country still faces large variations in dementia diagnosis, exacerbated by unprecedented resource constraints across the NHS. Despite this, the last twelve months have seen progress in dementia care and we now understand more than ever the challenge that faces the country. We remain optimistic about the future of dementia care.

A sprint roundtable, organised in Northamptonshire by independent policy institute, Curia, in summer 2024 looked to solutions to improve the task that faces NHS commissioners, patients, carers and clinicians. By exploring the existing care pathways, and collaborating on ways to enhance it, this sprint roundtable was able to fully depict the scale of the mission. We learned from system leaders alike on how to think about next steps for the future of building effective dementia care pathways.

This report details a change management plan for enhancing dementia care pathways for integrated care systems (ICS) across the country. The main focus of this proposed care management plan is on recognising the early onset signs of dementia, encouraging the role of early intervention and improving the ability of patients to live well with dementia.

The plan looks to build on the current model that exists in Northamptonshire. Attendees at the roundtable sought to answer the question of how the existing national care pathways – delivered at a local level – could be enhanced. Borrowing lessons from Northamptonshire, this plan sets out how this pathway could be applied in ICSs across the country. Enhancing the model will help ensure diagnosis rates of early dementia improve, a crucial step as the population continues to age and become more at risk of the disease.

The focus of the event was to explore the dementia care pathways for two different groups of patients: those under the age of 65; and those over the age of 65. Different proposals to amend the dementia care management plan were proposed depending on the group being discussed, and findings showed that the early onset age group needed more targeted support and interventions to help them in their journey on the dementia care pathway.

As Curia’s sprint progressed, it was agreed that the current dementia care pathway model does work in practice, but enhancements could still be made, in some instances across the country. Crucially, attendees identified that the current care pathway is missing a fundamental step – early intervention. Traditionally, the care pathway for dementia starts when a patient or family member suspects dementia symptoms, yet the change management plan advocates for an earlier step that could help identify the warning signs of dementia so that patients can be supported appropriately at an earlier stage.

Sprint attendees championed a smoother care pathway, one that is streamlined, simpler to navigate and enables earlier diagnosis. By getting patients faster access to a memory assessment service, they can receive their diagnosis quicker and also eliminate the burden of what can be a time-consuming process to secure a GP appointment, which still leads to the same assessment. Bypassing primary care in such instances can remove an unnecessary element of the pathway.

The plan ends with suggestions for ways in which dementia pathways across the country can be enhanced to support patients, families, and carers once a diagnosis has been made. Additional care should be directed to these groups so that they feel empowered and assisted to live well with dementia. This is particularly prevalent for those who are younger when they receive their diagnosis, and the role of employers in these instances should be adjusted to bring about a much-needed transformation in the way the workplace supports and recognises dementia.

We encourage NHS leaders, commissioners, and clinicians to use this change management plan as a guiding tool to improve the performance of dementia services and dementia diagnosis within your ICS. Thank you to those who participated in the sprint roundtable, particularly Northamptonshire carers for working in collaboration with the group to come up with new solutions.

To access our full report, please click on the image below.