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Dementia Research UK

Because every memory matters. We are advancing dementia research for a brighter future.

20/08/2026

"The care home called to say Mum had been throwing her walking frame at staff. She'd been fine for weeks."

When someone living with dementia suddenly changes, it's frightening.

It might not be the dementia getting worse. It might be delirium.

Delirium is a sudden shift in someone's mental state, developing over hours or days. It is common, serious, and usually reversible. But it is frequently missed.

Research suggests 46% of delirium cases are misdiagnosed. In one study, hospital admission teams missed 75% of them.

Things to watch for: abrupt personality changes, fluctuating awareness, new confusion or agitation, sudden problems with walking or continence, refusing food or drink.

The causes are often treatable. Infections. Dehydration. New medications. Pain. Constipation. Poor sleep. A sudden change in environment.

If the change was sudden, treat it as a medical emergency. Contact a GP, call NHS 111, or go to A&E.

Explain that the symptoms started suddenly and you wonder if it’s delirium.

You shouldn't have to fight to be heard. But sometimes you do.

Professor June Andrews discusses why families of people living with dementia need to know about delirium 👉 https://ow.ly/AK4w50ZBS7F

19/08/2026

If you are worried about your own, or someone's memory or thinking problems - the hardest part is often the first appointment.

Before the appointment, it is useful to write down the changes you have noticed. Memory is only one aspect.

What have you noticed?

Missed appointments, repeated questions, trouble with money or medication, getting lost somewhere familiar, changes in mood or confidence, trouble finding words.

Roughly when it started. Whether it seems to be getting worse.

Take someone with you if you can. They often remember things you have not.

Bring glasses and hearing aids too. If you cannot see or hear the questions properly, that affects how you do on the test.

Professor June Andrews has written a short guide to what happens at each stage:
- The first appointment with your GP
- The assessment that sometimes takes place at home
- The Memory Clinic.

Remember asking for help early is a positive step. Many memory problems are treatable, and where it is dementia, early support helps people stay independent for longer.

Full article can be found - https://ow.ly/TWBT50ZBoOT

12/08/2026

Most dementia research never asks whether someone served.

Military service can bring exposure to traumatic events, a raised risk of certain types of dementia and health needs that don't always fit the standard picture. When the research doesn't ask the question, the care doesn't either.

The SERVED project has been asking these questions.

Our funded partners at the Ageing and Dementia Research Centre at Bournemouth University have finished phase one - sitting down with veterans living with dementia and their families to understand the stigma they meet, and the assumptions made about their backgrounds and their diagnoses.

Thank you to the veterans and families who took part in phase one. Your voices are shaping this research. 👏

And a question for anyone reading who's been close to this. If you've supported a veteran through a dementia diagnosis - as family, as a clinician, or through a service charity - what did the current system misunderstand?

👉 Meet the ADRC on our partners page: https://ow.ly/Egx350ZyQWQ
👉 Watch the SERVED project film: https://ow.ly/XcCZ50ZyQWS

10/08/2026

"We want to support carers here and now. But that's not good enough. We do want to change the world as well."

That's Francis Lawrence of Dementia Carers Count, one of our funded partners, talking to Professor June Andrews.

Dementia Carers Count campaign alongside carers, not on their behalf. Their carers advisory panel brings carers and former carers together to push for change on carers in crisis and on fairer social care.

Francis: the current system is failing people living with dementia, and failing carers.

Watch the full conversation 👉 https://ow.ly/OXLX50ZxZee

07/08/2026

What is the price of the game? 🏉

Steve Thompson won the Rugby World Cup with England in 2003. He cannot remember it.

He is not an outlier.

Physical activity lowers dementia risk. Repeated head impacts appear to do the opposite. Both true.

A new piece on the blog about CTE, dementia, and the questions contact sports can no longer avoid.

https://ow.ly/g6Au50Zxm3a

06/08/2026

Frances Lawrence cared for her mother, who was living with young onset dementia. Now Frances is the CEO at Dementia Carers Count.

She joins Professor June Andrews on the new episode of Inside Dementia: Expert Dialogues.

They talk about living grief. The loss that starts long before someone dies, and the guilt that sits underneath it.

They talk about assessments, and how much of a carer's daily reality can go unseen when their relative has a good day in front of a professional.

Frances also makes the case for social care reform, and for carers being in the room when decisions about them get made.

Dementia Carers Count started in 1862 handing out surgical aids to people who couldn't afford them. In 2018 it turned the whole organisation towards family carers. Today that means help with benefits and legal paperwork, free counselling, and online groups and workshops.

Episode 4 is live now. Watch it here - https://ow.ly/ASXy50ZwTgf

04/08/2026

🎙️ Inside Dementia: Expert Dialogues - Episode 4 is coming this Thursday!

In our fourth episode, host Prof. June Andrews is joined by Frances Lawrence, Chief Executive of Dementia Carers Count.

During the episode, Frances shares ⤵

👉 Her experience of caring for her mum, who was living with young onset dementia.
👉 How caring can be deeply isolating, especially when family relationships start to fray under the weight of caring.
👉 Feelings about the harder emotions: the guilt, the frustration, and a grief that shows up while your loved one is still alive - what she calls "living grief."
👉 Why Dementia Carers Count exists and how the charity offers practical and emotional support, building a community around carers - from people that understand their experiences.

If you're an unpaid carer, work in research, health and social care, or supporting someone living with dementia, this series is for you 👀

Inside Dementia: Expert Dialogues - Look out for Episode 4...coming this Thursday 📆
⸻

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30/07/2026

On a high street in Plymouth is a café built for people living with dementia. It's called Moments, and it's the first not-for-profit café of its kind.

Memory Matters, one of the partners we fund, runs it! Homemade food, a warm welcome and space to sit and remember.

Every penny of profit goes upstairs, to a support hub connected to local NHS services.

Somewhere to belong, and something that keeps giving after the coffee and cake have gone. ☕🍰https://ow.ly/IsG550ZuAGY

P.S. The cafe also welcomes well behaved dogs 🐕‍🦺

📷 Memory Matters

Plymouth City Council

28/07/2026

"It's a comfort to come here and hear other people's stories, and to learn that I'm not in a world of my own."

Barbara says this about the weekly wellbeing group she goes to with Stuart.

When a diagnosis arrives, the days after can feel very quiet and quite frightening. ReMind UK, one of the partners we fund, runs 10-week wellbeing programmes where people living with dementia and the people caring for them can sit together, try something new each week, and feel understood.

You're not on your own. Barbara and Stuart's story is worth a read 💜 https://ow.ly/XGKH50ZtJBG

📷 Copyright Remind UK

24/07/2026

Rare dementias together account for 5-15% of all cases. 🧠

There is also much less support for these relatively neglected, but devastating dementias.

Whilst the most common diseases that cause dementia, such as Alzheimer’s disease and vascular dementia, are well known, there is less recognition of, and less research into, rare dementias.

One of the foremost services offering help to people living with these conditions is Rare Dementia Support, led by the UCL Dementia Research Centre (DRC) and funded by The National Brain Appeal.

Professor Nick Fox, director of the DRC and UK DRI Group Leader at UCL, talks about 💬

→ The links between the Dementia Research Centre and rare dementias
→ Challenges faced by people living with rare dementias
→ How support for people living with rare dementias changed
→ Some of the biggest challenges to developing potential treatments for rare dementias
→ and lots more..

Read the conversation with Professor Fox on our blog → https://ow.ly/INrf50ZscT5

..
Dementia Research UK is proud to support the work of the Dementia Research Centre at UCL

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