Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt recently placed dementia care at the forefront of Government plans for the NHS, calling for improved care and announcing £50m in targeted funding. There are 670,000 people in the UK diagnosed with dementia and numbers are predicted to rise by 150% over the next four decades.
As part of a policy-driven health research portfolio, CHSS has been involved in several dementia studies, and Professor of Health Services Research Simon Coulton is currently leading a Kent team on statistical design for a randomised controlled trial of a new model of collaborative dementia care. The CARE-DEM trial is under way at several primary care sites between London and Kent in the South East, and Newcastle in the North East; testing how effective and cost effective it is compared with usual care. The project involves people with dementia of all ages who live independently in the community and have regular contact with an informal carer.
Simon Coulton commented: ‘Evidence shows a real need in the UK for integrated, cost effective services to support people with dementia and their families to help them live independently for as long as they possibly can. CAREDEM is designed to address this need
by offering a coordinated care package led by a single health or social care professional who acts as designated care manager’.
The project, funded by the NIHR Health Technology Assessment programme, will fill a gap in UK evidence for the benefits of this approach; studies of collaborative care outside the UK have shown promising results.
For further information, contact Simon Coulton: s.coulton@kent.ac.uk