Research grant is the largest ever awarded by Marie Curie

Marie Curie Cancer Care has awarded its largest ever research grant of £1m to fund a three year programme into improving end of life care for people with advanced dementia, led by the Marie Curie Palliative Care Research Unit at University College London.

The research is being carried out by the Marie Curie Palliative Care Research Unit at University College London in response to the rapidly rising number of people with dementia and the need for greater understanding of the care and support needs of people with dementia and their carers at the end of their lives.

The first phase of the programme is already underway and involves a year-long study of 100 people with advanced dementia and 50 of their carers. The study will inform understanding of the symptoms and health and social care needs of people with advanced dementia and the current end of life care provision for them and their carers.

Dr Louise Jones, Head of the Marie Curie Palliative Care Research Unit at University College London, said: “This represents a very important piece of research. The end of life care needs of people with dementia and their carers are poorly understood at present, but the number of people dying with dementia will increase considerably in the coming years as the UK population ages. The findings of the first phase of our research study will feed into the development of a new model of care for people with dementia and a pilot of this model will be delivered during the second half of the programme. The model of care will then be evaluated to assess whether the experience of care has improved and provide clear recommendations that will inform the future strategy on the delivery of improved care.”

Currently, one in three people over the age of 60 will die with dementia and the number of people with dementia is expected to grow from 600,000 today to 1.2 million by 2050. The need to deliver improved end of life care for people with dementia and their carers, that is both effective and cost effective, is therefore significant. This programme aims to provide clear evidence that will inform service providers about how we can deliver this care in the future.

-ENDS-