Publication, Part of Primary Care Dementia Data

Primary Care Dementia Data, February 2023

Official statistics

Publication Date:: 16 Mar 2023
Geographic Coverage:: England
Geographical Granularity:: GP practices, Sub-Integrated Care Boards, Integrated Care Boards, Regions, Country, Local Authorities, Government Office Regions
Date Range:: 01 Apr 2022 to 28 Feb 2023

SNOMED code incorrectly used for February 2023

As part of the January 2023 code release an additional SNOMED code was incorrectly added to the refset which is used to identify patients with a recorded dementia diagnosis. This code has now been removed from the refset however a small proportion of patients will have been incorrectly identified as having dementia within the data for February 2023.

1 February 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 were collected via the dementia data core contract service and published as the "Recorded Dementia Diagnoses" series.

The "Primary Care Dementia Data" publication series supersedes the "Recorded Dementia Diagnoses" series. Data for the period April 2022 – October 2022 were collected under both services, but the data 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 data quality page where details on these changes can be found.

Key Facts

Recorded dementia diagnosis

438,213 patients had a recorded diagnosis of dementia on 28 February 2023, an increase of 6,368 patients since 31 January 2023.

Diagnosis rate in those aged 65 and over

62.0% of patients aged 65 or over who are estimated to have dementia, had a recorded diagnosis of dementia on 28 February 2023, an increase from 61.8% on 31 January 2023.

Medication reviews

232,299 (53.0%) of those with a recorded diagnosis of dementia on 28 February 2023 had their medication reviewed between 01 April 2022 and 28 February 2023.