NHS South East Coast is seeking new innovations to enable people with dementia to live more independently. The desired outcomes of the proposed technology development must cover at least one or more of the following areas:-

• Ensuring people with dementia are able to maintain independence
• Supporting carers by reducing the burden of care placed upon them
• Ensuring equality of healthcare and access to healthcare for people with dementia.

About dementia

There are approximately 700,000 people in the UK living with dementia, only about one third of whom currently receive a formal diagnosis. Dementia is a terminal condition that someone can live with for seven to twelve years. It is characterised by a progressive decline in functioning, including memory loss and the ability to carry out every-day activities. It is also associated with behavioural and psychological symptoms, such as anxiety, depression, aggression and wandering. Dementia is predominately a disease of old age; generally, onset of dementia is during a person's late 70s and 80s. One in five people aged over 80 has a dementia and are likely to have co-morbidities.

Health and social care needs

People affected by dementia require health and social care and support at all stages of the pathway - from encouraging well-being and access to information, diagnosis and care in the community, to hospital and care homes and end of life care. This brings challenges for providers to deliver integrated, personalised care.

Dementia is one of a number of long term conditions (such as Parkinson's disease, COPD, stroke, arthritis, MS and heart disease) and, as such, it shares a number of common characteristics, e.g. risk of falls, isolation, difficulties with continence.

Scope

The desired outcomes of the proposed technology development must cover at least one or more of the following areas:-

• Ensuring people with dementia are able to maintain independence
• Supporting carers by reducing the burden of care placed upon them
• Ensuring equality of healthcare and access to healthcare for people with dementia.