³Ô¹ÏºÚÁÏ

Minder, a digital care platform developed by Professor David Sharp and his team, will expand to new NHS regions as one of nine projects selected for real-world testing through UKRI’s new Dementia Challenge.  

Backed by up to £80 million, the Dementia Challenge aims to speed up the adoption of innovative technologies and practices that improve how dementia is diagnosed and how its progression is predicted. Its goal is that, by 2029, 92% of people referred for a dementia assessment receive a diagnosis within 18 weeks. 

The "Minder: Supporting a digitally enabled care pathway for people living with dementia" project is one of two funded projects led by researchers from the UK Dementia Research Institute (UK DRI), alongside a UCL-led study of ultra-fast MRI for dementia diagnosis. Professor Sharp is Professor of Neurology in the Department of Brain Sciences at ³Ô¹ÏºÚÁÏ and Director of the . 

How technology supports care 

Minder is the flagship digital care platform of the UK DRI Centre for Care Research & Technology at ³Ô¹ÏºÚÁÏ, developed to help people affected by dementia continue living safely at home. Small, unobtrusive sensors installed around the home gather data to spot early warning signs and prevent problems turning into crises.  

With funding from LifeArc, the system operated as a live NHS service, MinderCare, in North West London. Working with the Dementia Challenge, the team will build the robust, national-scale evidence the NHS needs to invest in Minder and with confidence. The service will expand into new NHS regions including rural and coastal communities, comparing outcomes against standard of care. 

Why early detection matters 

“One big challenge is that dementia care is still mostly reactive,” said Professor Sharp. Most of the roughly one million people living with dementia in the UK live at home, yet health services often become involved only once something has gone wrong, such as a fall, an infection or a crisis for a carer. 

According to Professor Sharp, around one in six hospital beds at ³Ô¹ÏºÚÁÏ College Healthcare NHS Trust is occupied by someone with dementia, and about half of those admissions follow infections or falls that could potentially have been prevented. “In dementia, people are too often diagnosed and then left to cope until the next crisis,” he said.  

Early diagnosis and timely support can reduce emergency hospital admissions and delay the need for more intensive care, easing pressure on NHS services. They can also help people access treatment sooner and make informed decisions about work, care, finances and family life. 

From research to the NHS at scale 

“As a practising neurologist, I see every day what a timely diagnosis and the right support at home can mean to people living with dementia and their families,” said Professor Siddharthan Chandran, Director of the UK Dementia Research Institute. 

“As an MRC institute, our goal is to transform the outlook for people with dementia, and this is how we do it: turning world-leading UK science into care and diagnostics the NHS can deliver at scale.” 

UKRI is taking a “fail-fast” approach to the programme: projects must reach agreed milestones to continue receiving funding, so that support is focused on those showing real promise. 

“By developing better diagnostic and prognostic tools, we can help people living with dementia understand and manage their symptoms, get earlier access to treatment and plan for their futures,” said Andy Hill, UKRI Health Mission Challenge Director. “That will mean better lives for people living with dementia and for their family and carers. 

“More people die as consequence of dementia than any other disease in the United Kingdom, accounting for almost one in eight deaths. In 2025, over 72,000 people across the UK died from dementia, including Alzheimer’s disease.” 

This work is supported by the , a translational research partnership between ³Ô¹ÏºÚÁÏ and ³Ô¹ÏºÚÁÏ College Healthcare NHS Trust.

More