Dementia is one of the biggest challenges we face today. The number of people with Alzheimer’s disease, vascular dementia, and other types of dementia, is set to double over the next 30 years. Research offers hope. It is only through research that we can understand what causes the disease, develop effective treatments, improve care and hopefully one day find a cure. But for research to progress we need more people to take part in more studies.
As a healthcare professional we hope that you can help raise awareness of Join Dementia Research with your patients and their carers and family members.
One of the big difficulties researchers face today is recruiting participants for their studies. At the same time, many people are looking for studies to contribute to and take part in, but don’t know where to find out about them. This is why the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) in partnership with Alzheimer Scotland, Alzheimer’s Research UK and Alzheimer’s Society have developed Join Dementia Research, a service which allows people to register their interest in participating in dementia research and be matched to suitable studies.
Join Dementia Research is funded by the Department of Health and Social Care, and its aims are highlighted as a key deliverable in the governments 2020 Dementia Challenge. The need to promote the service and share with patients is also recommended in NHS England, Dementia Good Care Planning Guidance and in the National Institute of Clinical Excellent (NICE) Dementia: assessment, management and support for people living with dementia and their carers (NG97), additionally the need to share with patients is a standard included in the Royal College of Psychiatrists – Memory Services National Accreditation Programme (MSNAP).
With your help in raising awareness amongst patients, everybody now has that chance to see what dementia research is taking place, both in their local area and across the nation. The service delivers new opportunities for people to play their part in beating dementia; connecting researchers with people who want to participate in studies.
The tool has been designed primarily for healthcare staff working in primary and secondary care, and the language and examples used are for this audience. However, we hope that other professionals working in social care may also find this tool useful, and we would encourage them to complete the process. We will be reviewing the tool later this year, to update to better support this audience, and are currently working on producing examples of how Join Dementia Research can be best supported by social care organisations and professionals.
This online awareness tool is aimed at healthcare professionals and anyone involved in supporting patients through the dementia care system. We hope to raise awareness of the benefits of dementia research, how Join Dementia Research can help patients and what healthcare staff can do to help patients to become involves.
The process should take no more than 4-5 minutes. You will watch a short informative film, answer a few questions (just to check you were paying attention), and then be asked to provide a little bit of information about yourself (optional, but required to receive a certificate). Finally, you will be able to access further resources, and receive a digital certificate for completing the process.
To access statistics on how many people have completed the awareness tool, in any given period, and from which organisations visit our data and statistics page.
If you have any questions you can contact us at admin.nddr@nihr.ac.uk
The information you provide is used to enable us to keep you updated with information on Join Dementia Research, you can unsubscribe from future mailings at anytime by using the link in the emails you receive, or by emailing us using the details above. You information is retained for three years, to enable reporting to the Department of Health and Social Care, and individual NHS originations on the numbers of people completing the process, however your personal information is never disclosed, only cumulative numbers of completers.
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