Dementia diagnoses in England reach a record 523,081

More people in England have a dementia diagnosis than ever

A record 523,081 people in England had a formal dementia diagnosis by September 2026, according to NHS figures for that month (opens in a new tab).

The count increased by 10,615 (from 512,466 at the end of last year), as The Carer reports (opens in a new tab).

Most people living in residential and nursing homes live with dementia. More formal diagnoses mean more residents, and more people seeking a place, whose care plans depend on staff trained in dementia care. That makes this a staffing and training question for registered managers as much as an NHS one.

The two-thirds target is met again, but no longer required

The NHS set a target in 2013: at least two-thirds (66.7%) of people estimated to have dementia should have a formal diagnosis. For people aged over 65, it has now hit that target for the first time since March 2020, before the pandemic disrupted diagnosis services.

In March 2020, 470,292 people had a recorded diagnosis, according to NHS England (opens in a new tab). Dr Jeremy Isaacs, NHS England's national clinical director for dementia, said today's count is 50,000 higher (opens in a new tab) than the last time the target was hit.

The target is no longer a formal requirement. It was dropped from NHS England's planning guidance for 2025/26 (opens in a new tab), though the rate was still measured and published every month. Whether it will return as a formal target has not yet been set out.

Isaacs added that NHS England is working with government on a national vision for dementia care. That sits beside the post covered in our piece on England's first national dementia tsar.

The gap is still large. More than one million people are estimated to be living with dementia across the UK, and not all of them have a formal diagnosis.

The figures give no breakdown by region, council area or ethnicity. There is no way to tell from them whether the improvement is even across England or concentrated in some places, so a registered manager cannot read their own area into the national number.

The next fight is over how long people wait

Michelle Dyson, Chief Executive of Alzheimer's Society, described a two-thirds target as too modest. Alzheimer's Society has called on government to bring in a maximum 18-week wait for a dementia diagnosis (opens in a new tab), including a care plan and the start of treatment.

Baroness Casey has raised a similar idea. In a BBC Radio 4 Woman's Hour interview (opens in a new tab) she discussed a referral-to-treatment target for dementia, pursued with the vigour that changed outcomes for cancer. That puts diagnosis inside the adult social care review she is leading.

A maximum wait with a care plan included would change what counts as success. The question would become: do people reach a care home with a plan in place, and trained staff to carry it out?