BRITISH scientists are developing a new generation of technology, including artificial intelligence, rapid MRI scans, blood tests and at-home monitoring, which could dramatically speed up the diagnosis of dementia.
Nine pioneering projects are moving into real-world testing within the NHS, bringing together some of Britain’s leading universities, researchers and technology specialists.
The ambition is significant, to increase the proportion of people receiving a dementia diagnosis within 18 weeks of referral to 92 per cent, compared with around 60 per cent today. For some patients, the process currently takes more than a year.
Up to £80 million is being made available through UK Research and Innovation’s Research and Development Missions Accelerator Programme.
Crucially, however, the projects will have to prove that they work.
Rather than automatically receiving continued funding, technologies will be tested in real NHS settings, with further money directed towards those which demonstrate results and offer the greatest potential benefit to patients.
It is an approach designed to get successful British innovation out of laboratories and into everyday healthcare more quickly.
Among the projects is work by University College London and the UK Dementia Research Institute to slash the time required for an MRI brain scan from around 20 minutes to just seven.
If successful, the technology could allow more patients to receive diagnostic MRI scans, while reducing costs and improving their experience.
Researchers at the University of Cambridge are meanwhile developing an AI-enabled clinical decision-support system capable of analysing information including medical records, blood tests and cognitive assessments to predict how dementia could progress in people at risk.
At Imperial College London, researchers from the UK Dementia Research Institute Care Research & Technology Centre are working on Minder, a home-monitoring platform which combines unobtrusive sensors with artificial intelligence to help identify changes sooner and enable more personalised care.
Oxford researchers and Dementias Platform UK are examining how blood-based dementia biomarkers could be introduced into routine NHS memory services, potentially improving the accuracy of diagnoses.
Cognitron is testing a 15-minute remote cognitive assessment, while Queen Mary University of London is developing technology which assesses how the brain processes sound using an ordinary home computer and headphones.
Researchers at the University of Exeter are developing digital monitoring of cognitive health, while the University of Bristol is looking at the role of sleep apnoea screening in improving dementia diagnosis.
In Scotland, the University of Edinburgh and NHS Research Scotland are working to redesign dementia diagnosis and treatment services, while creating “living labs” in which new biomarkers and treatments can be tested.
The stakes could hardly be higher.
According to UKRI, more people die as a consequence of dementia than any other disease in the UK, accounting for almost one in eight deaths. More than 72,000 people died from dementia, including Alzheimer’s disease, in 2025.
Earlier diagnosis could allow patients to receive treatment sooner, while giving families more time to make decisions about care, finances, work and their futures.
It could also ease pressure on the NHS, with earlier diagnosis potentially reducing emergency hospital admissions and delaying the point at which patients require greater levels of care.
Andy Hill, UKRI Health Mission Challenge Director, said better diagnostic and prognostic technology could help people with dementia understand and manage their symptoms, gain earlier access to treatment and plan for the future.
Dr Richard Oakley, Associate Director of Research and Innovation at Alzheimer’s Society, described the Dementia Challenge as potentially a “game changer”, pointing out that around one in three people living with dementia in the UK currently do not have a diagnosis.
Hilary Evans-Newton CBE, chief executive of Alzheimer’s Research UK, said faster and more accurate diagnosis was becoming even more important because new medicines work best during the early stages of disease.
She said: “A cure is in sight but only research will deliver it.”
The programme is another reminder of the extraordinary scientific expertise sitting within Britain’s universities, research institutes and technology sector.
From artificial intelligence and digital diagnostics to medical imaging and blood biomarkers, British researchers are working at the frontier of one of medicine’s greatest challenges.
And, if these technologies prove themselves in the real world, they could give thousands of families something invaluable, earlier answers, earlier treatment and precious additional time.
