UK puts £80m behind dementia diagnosis push
The UK is putting £80 million ($105 million) in funding behind nine technologies that it hopes will be able to diagnose dementia more quickly.
The overarching aim is to ensure that 92% of people are diagnosed within 18 weeks of a referral. That is a major increase on the current situation where around 60% of people are diagnosed in that time frame and, for some, the process can take more than a year. Dementia causes more deaths in the UK than any other disease.
Launched by UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) today, the Dementia Challenge will accelerate the adoption of innovative technologies and practices that will diagnose and predict how the disease will progress, according to the government.
The hope is that the programme will help patients get an earlier and more accurate diagnosis of dementia and a better understanding of the impact it will have on their lives. At the same time, the aim is to reduce the risk of emergency hospital admissions and delay the need for greater care support, which could help relieve pressure on the NHS.
The nine projects that are in line for the funding will undergo real-world assessments to make sure they are delivering benefits, with a 'fail-fast' clause to ensure only those that are working will be able to access additional financial support.
"Dementia is a desperately cruel condition, robbing sufferers of their memories and family of precious time with their loved ones," said Science Minister Chris McDonald.
"Science gives us the hope that we can change that, which is why we are backing projects that can spot the signs earlier, such as tests which look at how people process sounds and speech to identify changes in the brain," he added.
"This work by brilliant UK researchers could be transformative in getting people the early treatment they need, improving the quality of life for people across our country."
The nine recipients of the funding are:
1) A project that aims to reduce MRI scan times from around 20 minutes to around seven minutes, stretching NHS resources;
2) A digital platform integrated into the NHS that enables people to monitor changes in their cognitive health and be seen at the right time;
3) A home-monitoring platform that uses sensors in the home and linked AI to support earlier dementia intervention, personalised care, and proactive management;
4) A panel of blood-based dementia biomarkers, integrated into routine NHS memory services to improve diagnostic accuracy;
5) Improving the speed, accuracy and accessibility of dementia diagnosis using a 15-minute remote digital cognitive assessment;
6) Routine sleep apnoea screening and improved access to treatment for everyone referred to memory assessment services to improve the accuracy of dementia diagnoses;
7) A digital diagnostic tool, using a standard home computer and headphones, to support earlier dementia detection and monitoring by assessing how the brain processes sound;
8) An AI-enabled clinical decision support tool that analyses routinely collected data – like medical records, blood tests, and cognitive tests – to predict progression for people at risk of dementia and improve how dementia is diagnosed and treated; and
9) A project to redesign Scotland’s dementia diagnosis and treatment services to provide faster, better quality, and more consistent diagnosis across the country, and ‘living labs’ to test new biomarkers and treatments.
"At any one time, one in three people living with dementia in the UK do not have a diagnosis, meaning they are missing out on treatment, support, and opportunities to take part in research," said Dr Richard Oakley, associate director of research and innovation at the Alzheimer's Society.
"The Dementia Challenge could be a game changer and shorten the path to diagnosis by testing and rapidly scaling innovative technologies in real NHS settings."
More than 72,000 people across the UK died from dementia, including Alzheimer's disease, last year.
UK Prime Minister Andy Burnham, who lost his father to Alzheimer's disease, was urged to implement a "cancer-style" reform of dementia care pathways in a document published by the Alzheimer's Society and The King's Fund last month.
