Government efforts to reduce the numbers of dementia patients entering hospital will include the introduction of a fixed-fee tariff for providers of community care.

The policy was announced by health minister Earl Howe last week in response to a question in the House of Lords, although details of how it would work are yet to be released.

Under the payment by results policy, the Department of Health already operates tariffs for hospital treatment for Alzheimer’s patients and a variety of medical procedures, under which providers are paid a flat rate for treatments.

The system aims to drive quality and efficiency by paying providers only for the work that they do rather than in block grants.

Howe said the government was seeking to ensure the five-year National Dementia Strategy was sustainable. “We will do that principally by driving up quality standards through a tariff for dementia patients, by better regulation of providers and by better commissioning of services, including public health interventions,” he said. <more>