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Two-thirds of PCTs “unable to account for dementia funding”

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18 March 2010

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Funding meant for dementia care is being spent elsewhere by NHS trusts, a group of MPs has claimed.

Using Freedom of Information (FOI) legislation, the All Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) on Dementia found that just 31%  of PCTs that responded said they had allocated their proportion of the £150m made available by the government.

A further two-thirds said they were unable to state if or how the money had been spent.

In all, just 70 PCTs of the 152 in England responded to the FOI requests.

The statistics caused Jeremy Wright, Chairman of the APPG on Dementia, to call for an audit of PCTs to ensure the funding was being spent appropriately.

Responding, care services minister Phil Hope said: “With local flexibility comes responsibility and accountability – I will hold local areas to account if they are not investing in dementia services and do not have action plans in place by our deadline on 31 March.”

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