£250m In AI Could Help Improve Diagnosis For People With Dementia

Alzheimer’s Research UK is has welcomed news from the Department of Health and Social Care that £250m will be invested toward artificial intelligence to improve diagnosis for major health conditions, like Alzheimer’s and other diseases that cause dementia.

Dementia remains the leading cause of death across the UK and data this year has shown record rises in both the number of diagnoses made and the number of people over 75 dying from dementia in England.

Alzheimer’s Research UK has called on greater research into ways to detect the diseases that cause dementia as well as improved treatments for the condition.

Dr Alison Evans, Head of Policy at Alzheimer’s Research UK, said:

“We must do more to improve the way we diagnose the diseases that cause dementia, not only scaling up research funding to 1% of the cost of dementia, but also harnessing the latest technologies to identify the condition as early as possible.

“Today, we diagnose diseases like Alzheimer’s when symptoms show, but to ensure people get the greatest benefit from future treatments, we must be able to spot these diseases even earlier.

“Alzheimer’s Research UK is working to revolutionise how diseases like Alzheimer’s are identified and AI has huge potential to revolutionise this work. We’re pleased to see government commitment to AI as an opportunity to harness cutting-edge resources to improve the lives of people with dementia.”