University of Liverpool Receives £1.5M for National Network Tackling Dementia Inequalities
Dementia researchers from the University of Liverpool have been awarded £1.5m to establish the first national network dedicated to finding solutions to inequalities in dementia diagnosis and care.
Today (Monday 8 July), the Alzheimer’s Society, Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) and National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) announced four dementia networks which will benefit from £5.5m funding – of which the ESRC Equalities in Dementia (EquaDem) Network Plus is one.
The network has been spearheaded by Dr Clarissa Giebel, Senior Research Fellow in the Institute of Population Health at the University of Liverpool. In collaboration with network co-lead Dame Louise Robinson, Regius Professor of Ageing at Newcastle University, they will bring together a network of people with academic, professional, and lived experience and expertise of dementia.
One million people are living with dementia in the UK, with numbers continuing to increase. People living with dementia and their unpaid carers often face many inequalities in accessing care and obtaining an assessment and diagnosis.
The EquaDem Network Plus aims to develop solutions to barriers in dementia diagnosis and care and impact clinical and social care practice. By closely working together with people living with dementia and unpaid carers, as well as care professionals and Third Sector organisations, the Network will create a Community of Research and Practice to find solutions to inequalities, linked to knowledge mobilisation internships and pilot projects. Their solutions include delivering key policy and practice guidance, alongside submitting evidence to the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Dementia. This will be part of a wider strategy to communicate research findings to a range of audiences and policy makers who will focus on implementing their recommendations.
Dr Clarissa Giebel, Senior Research Fellow in the Institute of Population Health at the University of Liverpool and at the NIHR Applied Research Collaboration North West Coast said: “Sadly, our ongoing research illustrates the significant disparities in diagnoses and care with ‘postcode lotteries’ of access to help. We are already working regionally to bring together opinions, knowledge and voices to address these inequalities and I’m delighted that we can now do this nationally.”
Dame Louise Robinson, Professor of Primary Care and Ageing at Newcastle University added: “Inequalities in dementia care are widening. This network grant provides a unique opportunity to focus both on co-developing solutions with the people who experience these, and also to mentor and support our next generation of dementia care researchers.”
Comprising seven Universities, two national dementia charities, health and social care professionals and lived experts (carers, person living with dementia), and the University College London-based NIHR-funded ‘Dementia Researcher’ as core team members, the EquaDem Network Plus will host networking, capacity-building, and pilot-project activities over the next five years.
Besides the University of Liverpool and Newcastle University, the ESRC EquaDem Network Plus includes:
University of Manchester
King’s College London
University of Kent
Bournemouth University
University of Nottingham
Lewy Body Society
Dementia UK
Mersey Care
Me2U
NIHR Dementia Researcher
Social Care Institute for Excellence