Guidance

Dementia data and analysis: a guide for health professionals

Explains how commissioners and health professionals can use data and analysis for decisions about dementia services and interventions.

Applies to England

The Office for Health Improvement and Disparities (OHID) brings together and analyses data on dementia from across the health and care system, and produces resources to help improve services and outcomes.

This guidance is for commissioners, public health professionals and others involved in the local planning and provision of services that support people with dementia.

It should support them to use these resources to make or influence decisions about local services and interventions.

Understanding dementia locally

The dementia profiling tool brings together a wide range of publicly available data on dementia. It can be used to understand the prevalence of dementia and how it is prevented and diagnosed locally. It also shows data on the care that is provided to people with dementia, including end of life care.

The ‘further resources’ section of the dementia profile contains signposting links to dementia-related data products, indicators and data sets that can be used to find out more about dementia and dementia services locally and in England.

Dementia and comorbidities

The dementia: comorbidities in patients data briefing analyses data recorded in a sample of primary care records of patients with dementia, in relation to their other health conditions (comorbidities).

This briefing is for health commissioners and providers of primary care and community services that support patients with dementia. The findings can inform a local assessment of the needs of patients with dementia, and the provision of health and care services.

End of life care

The dying with dementia briefing was written for those commissioning or providing end of life care for people with dementia. It gives an analysis of information recorded on the death certificates of people who died between 2012 and 2014 with any recorded mention of dementia.

Further dying with dementia resources are available, including the supporting data set, which shows data at clinical commissioning group (CCG) and local authority level.

Use of hospital services

National data and information is available, which can be used to understand the use of inpatient general hospital services by people with dementia.

The reasons why people with dementia are admitted to a general hospital in an emergency briefing shows and explains data from 2012 to 2015.

It covers why people are admitted to hospital, short stay emergency admissions, increases in hospital admissions and preventing avoidable emergency admissions.

Further information

OHID’s Neurology and Dementia Intelligence Team produces these resources to help improve services and outcomes for people with dementia and their carers.

These resources are particularly targeted at

  • integrated care system (ICS) commissioners, Dementia Clinical Network colleagues, and providers of health and social care services for people who have, or are suspected of having, dementia and their carers
  • national policy teams in the health and social care system in England - including the Department of Health and Social Care, NHS England and third-sector organisations

For further guidance and information about the tools and analysis, email ndi@dhsc.gov.uk.

Published 29 September 2016
Last updated 6 November 2023 + show all updates
  1. 'Further information' section has been updated to include new email address and more detail on who the content is intended for.

  2. Added information on dementia and comorbidities in patients.

  3. Added link to dementia profile collection, listing all profile updates in chronological order by publication.

  4. First published.