Prolonging quality of life for people with dementia through technology

Ian Bolland, group content manager at Rapid MedTech is joined by Simon Lord, head of innovation at the Alzheimer’s Society and George MacGinnis, health ageing challenge director at Innovate UK to discuss the Longitude Prize for dementia. The prize is awarded to the creator of a breakthrough technology that learns from a person living with dementia, adapting, and compensating for their condition as it progresses, and enabling them to continue living independently for longer. The winning solution will be a digital device or service designed for use by people living with dementia as the primary users. Ian, George and Simon discuss some research findings suggesting that two thirds of GPs want to prescribe technology for dementia patients to help them remain independent and live longer and that 87% believe their patients with early-stage dementia would benefit from technology designed for their condition. These and other topics, including challenging the stereotype of patients being tech averse, are discussed on this episode.