Making ‘dementia friendly’ neighbourhoods

The University of Liverpool and a team of European experts will explore the role of the neighbourhood in the everyday lives of people with dementia in a new research project announced during the G8 dementia summit. The 'Neighbourhoods and Dementia' study, led by the University of Manchester, was one of six research projects announced by the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) along with the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR), as part of a £20 million funding boost which will significantly add to the understanding of dementia. There are currently 44 million people in the world living with dementia, and by 2050 this number is set to treble to 135 million. Following on from last year's announcement by Prime Minister David Cameron of plans to tackle the 'national crisis' posed by dementia, the G8 Dementia summit aims to agree what can be done to stimulate greater investment and innovation in dementia research. Professor Paula Williamson, from the University's Institute of Translational Medicine, said: "There is a growing recognition that insufficient attention has been paid to the outcomes measured in clinical trials. In addition, for studies with people with dementia, there has been very limited caregiver and patient involvement in determining the important outcomes to measure. "This work will allow the results of trials and other studies to be compared, contrasted and combined as appropriate, as well as ensuring that all trials contribute usable information.