Joint health and social care guidelines have been published aimed at integrating the care of the 700 000 people in England and Wales with dementia and their carers.

The report by the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) and its social services equivalent, the Social Care Institute for Excellence (SCIE), aims to boost services that are currently dogged by lack of coordination between hospitals and community care.

Andrew Dillon, the chief executive of NICE, said the guidelines, which were the first his organisation had produced with the social care group, “demonstrated the real importance of health and social care professionals working closely together.” …