This report published by the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Dementia (APPG) examines initial progress made by Primary Care Trusts in England towards implementing the National Dementia Strategy for England (NDSE).

Download A misspent opportunity? Inquiry into the funding of the National Dementia Strategy

Key findings based on an analysis of 70 PCTs that responded to the inquiry included:

• Among some of those PCTs included in the analysis, there was an apparent lack of prioritisation and commitment to implementing the NDSE.
• Two thirds of PCTs included in the analysis were unable to show where their allocation of NDSE funding had been spent, with half of these stating that they could not separate this money from other funding. Submissions from stakeholders also pointed to uncertainty as to whether NDSE funding had been allocated.
• More positively, most responding PCTs in the analysis had in operation or were developing joint dementia strategies with their Local Authorities. However, it is clear much more needs to be done to foster close working.

As a result, the APPG on Dementia has set out eleven recommendations to support full implementation of the NDSE. These chiefly include:

• PCTs should account for the full allocation of their 2010/11 NDSE funding.
• PCTs must prioritise developing joint commissioning strategies with local authorities for dementia as a matter of urgency and have clear systems to monitor their implementation. These strategies should be publicly available.
• PCTs should ensure they prioritise investment in all relevant aspects of the dementia strategy, especially those objectives identified as in need of urgent attention.