Alzheimer’s charities receive Dream Fund’s biggest grant to date
Melanie May | 16 May 2023 | News
The People’s Postcode Lottery has awarded £5 million to Alzheimer’s Society and Alzheimer’s Research UK for a project that aims to revolutionise early dementia diagnosis in the UK.
Alzheimer’s Society and Alzheimer’s Research UK are working together on the project, which is working on introducing a simple and inexpensive blood test in the NHS that will help diagnose dementia. The test will detect Alzheimer’s disease at the early stages, enabling earlier and more accurate diagnosis and give people a greater chance of benefiting from appropriate support and treatments.
In addition, the project will focus on breaking down the stigma associated with dementia, encouraging people to seek out support if they are concerned about dementia, and aiming to improve early diagnosis rates.
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The award of £5 million is the biggest in the Dream Fund’s history, and the biggest single award ever made with funds raised by players of People’s Postcode Lottery. The Dream Fund was created to give charities a chance to deliver projects they have always dreamed of but never had the opportunity to deliver. To date, it has supported 36 ‘dream’ projects’, and awarded more than £24 million.
Clara Govier, Managing Director at People’s Postcode Lottery, said:
“We believe this new collaboration between two of the country’s leading Alzheimer’s charities has the potential to transform dementia diagnosis in the UK. It’s a bold ambition but, with one person in Britain developing dementia every three minutes, we must aim high. This is a condition which devastates lives and I know our millions of players will join me in wishing our charity partners every success.”
Commenting, Kate Lee, CEO of Alzheimer’s Society said:
“We are delighted to be working in partnership with Alzheimer’s Research UK and People’s Postcode Lottery to deliver this revolutionary project, breaking down the stigma associated with dementia and providing hope to millions of people. Funds raised by players of People’s Postcode Lottery will transform dementia diagnosis forever by accelerating the use of a revolutionary blood test on the NHS and crucially creating a legacy for millions of families in the future who will benefit from an early diagnosis.
“This announcement comes during Dementia Action Week, Alzheimer’s Society’s biggest and longest running awareness campaign which, this year is focusing on the importance of diagnosis. With diagnosis rates at a five-year low, we need to act now to help end the devastation caused by dementia. We could not be more grateful to players of People’s Postcode Lottery for helping us make this dream a reality.”
Hilary Evans, Chief Executive of Alzheimer’s Research UK added:
“We are absolutely thrilled to join forces with Alzheimer’s Society and People’s Postcode Lottery to help end the heartbreak of dementia by radically reshaping how Alzheimer’s disease is diagnosed. Anxiously waiting months and months for a diagnosis is simply not good enough. People with Alzheimer’s and other forms of dementia deserve better. Making sure future generations won’t have to go through this lengthy worry by bringing a quick, simple blood test to the NHS is a wonderful legacy from People’s Postcode Lottery players all over the country. If we can fix diagnosis, we open the door for a cure.”
About Melanie May
Melanie May is a journalist and copywriter specialising in writing both for and about the charity and marketing services sectors since 2001. She can be reached via thepurplepim.com.