NHS England To Trial New Dementia Technologies In ‘Test Bed’ Scheme

NHS England has announced today that a series of projects aimed at improving health – including schemes to support people with dementia – are among the first to be trialled as part of its ‘test bed’ programme.

Five test bed sites across England will evaluate different technologies and tools to gather evidence about their impact, and to understand how these tools work alongside NHS services.

Hilary Evans, Chief Executive of Alzheimer’s Research UK, the UK’s leading dementia research charity, said:

“Trials of this sort are vital to know whether new technologies can have a real impact on people’s lives, and it’s good to see that tools aimed at helping people with dementia are being evaluated as part of this scheme. For people to benefit from scientific advances being made, it’s important that our healthcare system is able to adopt cost-effective new treatments and technologies quickly. The NHS test bed programme could be vital for understanding which innovations should be taken forward.

“Many of the projects being assessed aim to support people with dementia to live independently for longer, but there is also a desperate need for new treatments, preventions and better diagnostic tools. Investment in research must continue if we are to defeat dementia, and we must ensure that new treatments can reach the people who need them as quickly as possible.”