FOI 2026/1782

I am writing to make a request under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 for factual information relating to your Integrated Care Board’s commissioning and provision of Cognitive Stimulation Therapy (CST) and post-diagnostic dementia support.

This request is made as part of pathway mapping for an NIHR-funded feasibility study: NIHR510823: Early Digital CST for Dementia. We are conducting a national survey of CST commissioning across all 36 ICBs in England.

Aggregated findings may be published in a peer-reviewed journal and as part of the NIHR final report. Individual ICBs will not be identified by name without prior agreement. I include this context in the interests of transparency, not as a request for permission, which is not required under the Act.

To enable consistent analysis across ICBs, I have structured this request as a set of factual questions with defined response formats. Where a specific number or figure is requested, a reasonable estimate is acceptable. Where the answer is unknown or not held, please state “not held.”

All questions relate to the most recent 12-month period for which data is available unless otherwise specified. Please state the period covered in your response.

Section A: CST Provision

A1. Does your ICB currently commission CST for people with mild to moderate dementia?
Response format: Yes / No

A2. If yes, how is CST commissioned? For example: included in memory service contract, spot purchase, block contract, or other.
Response format: Category

A3. Which organisation(s) deliver CST within your ICB area?
Response format: Organisation name(s)

A4. How many individuals received CST in the most recent 12-month period?
Response format: Number

A5. Is there currently a waiting list for CST within your ICB area?
Response format: Yes / No

A6. If yes, how many people are currently on the CST waiting list?
Response format: Number

A7. What is the average waiting time from referral to commencement of CST?
Response format: Weeks

A8. In which setting(s) is CST delivered? For example: memory clinic, community mental health team, primary care, community venue, patient home, or other.
Response format: Category; tick all that apply

Section B: Post-Diagnostic Support

B1. What is the average waiting time from dementia diagnosis to first post-diagnostic support intervention?
Response format: Weeks

B2. Is any post-diagnostic dementia support currently delivered in or through primary care within your ICB area?
Response format: Yes / No

B3. What is the current dementia diagnosis rate within your ICB area, as a percentage of estimated prevalence?
Response format: Percentage

Section C: Falls and Frailty

C1. Does your ICB have a specific pathway or protocol linking dementia care with falls prevention?
Response format: Yes / No

C2. How many hospital admissions in the most recent 12-month period were attributed to falls among people with a recorded dementia diagnosis?
Response format: Number

Section D: Digital Approaches

D1. Has your ICB commissioned, piloted, or evaluated any digital or technology-enabled cognitive intervention for people with dementia?
Response format: Yes / No

D2. If yes, please provide the name of the technology and provider.
Response format: Name(s)

Section E: Workforce

E1. Which staff group(s) currently deliver CST within your ICB area? For example: psychologist, occupational therapist, nurse, healthcare assistant, social prescriber, voluntary sector, or other.
Response format: Category; tick all that apply

E2. Has your ICB identified workforce capacity as a barrier to delivering CST at the scale recommended by NICE?
Response format: Yes / No

This request contains 17 factual questions, most requiring a single number, yes/no answer, or category selection. I have designed it to minimise the time required to respond and would not expect the cost to approach the appropriate limit under Section 12.

If any question is unclear, or if information is not held, I would welcome a brief indication of this rather than a refusal of the entire request. I would also welcome advice and assistance under Section 16 if any refinement would help you respond within the statutory limit.

Section A: CST Provision

1. NHS Greater Manchester (NHS GM) does not commission CST as a distinct service, therefore, you may wish to contact the NHS Mental Health Trusts within Greater Manchester for further information. To assist you please find below links to their websites and information about how to make a Freedom of Information request.

Pennine Care NHS Foundation Trust – Freedom of Information :: Pennine Care NHS Foundation Trust

Greater Manchester Mental Health NHS Foundation Trust – Freedom of Information | Greater Manchester Mental Health NHS FT (gmmh.nhs.uk)

Manchester University NHS Foundation Trust – Freedom of Information – Manchester University NHS Foundation Trust (mft.nhs.uk)

2. Please refer to the response to question 1.
3. Please refer to the response to question 1.
4. Please refer to the response to question 1.
5. Please refer to the response to question 1.
6. Please refer to the response to question 1.
7. Please refer to the response to question 1.
8. Please refer to the response to question 1.

Section B: Post-Diagnostic Support

1. NHS GM does not commission Dementia Post Diagnostic Support as a distinct service, therefore, you may wish to contact the NHS Mental Health Trusts within Greater Manchester for further information. To assist you please find below links to their websites and information about how to make a Freedom of Information request.

Pennine Care NHS Foundation Trust – Freedom of Information :: Pennine Care NHS Foundation Trust

Greater Manchester Mental Health NHS Foundation Trust – Freedom of Information | Greater Manchester Mental Health NHS FT (gmmh.nhs.uk)

Manchester University NHS Foundation Trust – Freedom of Information – Manchester University NHS Foundation Trust (mft.nhs.uk)

2. Post Diagnostic Dementia support is not formally delivered in or through Primary Care across GM. Primary care would be expected to offer support and appropriate referrals to available local services should a patient request this following a diagnosis of dementia. This would be as part of their usual contractual GP work and responsibilities.

3. Dementia diagnosis rates are available in publicly downloadable datasets for all ICBs on the NHS England website:

Here’s the latest month of March (73.9%):

https://digital.nhs.uk/data-and-information/publications/statistical/primary-care-dementia-data/march-2026

And for previous months:

https://digital.nhs.uk/data-and-information/publications/statistical/primary-care-dementia-data

Section C: Falls and Frailty

1. No

2. The available emergency admissions data includes patients with a recorded dementia diagnosis and admissions due to various types of injuries; however, the dataset does not specifically identify whether the injury was due to a fall.

Based on the available data, the total number of emergency admissions for people with recorded dementia from April 2025 to March 2026 is 2,486 (see below).

**A document was sent to the requester with this response that we are unable to upload onto the website.  If you require a copy of the full response, together with the attachments, please contact NHS GM’s FOI team – nhsgm.foi@nhs.net **

Section D: Digital Approaches

1. NHS GM has not commissioned, piloted or evaluated any digital or technology-enabled cognitive interventions for people with Dementia.

2. Please refer to the response to question 1.

Section E: Workforce

1. NHS GM does not commission CST as a distinct service, therefore, you may wish to contact the NHS Mental Health Trusts within Greater Manchester for further information. To assist you please find below links to their websites and information about how to make a Freedom of Information request.

Pennine Care NHS Foundation Trust – Freedom of Information :: Pennine Care NHS Foundation Trust

Greater Manchester Mental Health NHS Foundation Trust – Freedom of Information | Greater Manchester Mental Health NHS FT (gmmh.nhs.uk)

Manchester University NHS Foundation Trust – Freedom of Information – Manchester University NHS Foundation Trust (mft.nhs.uk)

2. Please refer to the response to question 1.