NHS to discontinue dementia diagnosis payments to GP practices

Scheme to improve diagnosis rates that has been fiercely criticised by GPs and patient groups will not be renewed in March.



A controversial scheme to pay GPs’ practices £55 each time they diagnose a patient with dementia is to be discontinued, the head of the NHS in England has announced.

GPs’ representatives and patient groups fiercely condemned the payments, which are part of a drive to increase diagnoses of the condition, as ethically questionable and damaging to the relationship between doctor and patient.

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Short men more likely to die from dementia, Edinburgh University finds

The University of Edinburgh has found that height is linked to the risk of death from dementia.

Short men are more likely to die from dementia than taller men, scientists have found, in the first ever study to link height with mental decline in old age.

Researchers at the University of Edinburgh found that men who were 5ft 5 inches or shorter were 50 per cent more likely to develop, and die from dementia, that those who were 5ft 8 inches or taller.

The academics think that height is an important indicator of developmental difficulties in childhood, such as stress, illness and poor nutrition.

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