Recently Professor Vanessa Raymont, Director of Research and Development at Oxford Health NHS Foundation Trust (OHFT), spoke to journalists from Sky News and The Times about the READ-OUT dementia study.
READ-OUT, a country-wide trial aiming to revolutionise how dementia is diagnosed using blood tests is now underway, in a bid to improve the UK’s diagnosis rate.
Speaking about the study, Professor Raymont said: “Blood biomarker tests could be the answer to this problem and the good news is that the technology already exists. What we’re missing is the proof that they really do work in a real-world setting.
“Our team will be looking at a range of blood tests and we’ll be recruiting participants from a broad range of people including those from minority ethnic groups, the very elderly and people with other medical conditions. This will show us how the blood tests perform in different UK populations.”
The READ-OUT team welcomed its first participants into the study, at the Trust’s Warneford Hospital this month.
Filming took place at the Oxford Health Clinical Research Facility (OH CRF) and featured READ-OUT study participant Stephanie Everill, from Abingdon in Oxfordshire, who was interviewed about her decision to take part in the study.
Stephanie said: “I was diagnosed with Mild Cognitive Impairment about a year ago. My mum had Alzheimer’s, so it’s something I’ve seen firsthand. The scans I had at the hospital showed that my condition is leaning towards Alzheimer’s disease, but I haven’t had that diagnosed officially yet.
“I’m getting quite forgetful, and I hope that taking part in this study might mean a faster diagnosis and access to treatments for myself and others in the future.”
Stephanie was also asked to complete a cognitive assessment and have bloods taken to be processed in the OH CRF laboratory by colleagues from the Trust’s Memory and Cognition Research Delivery Team, who deliver the study at OHFT.
The READ-OUT research team at Dementias Platform UK based at the University of Oxford and University of Cambridge, is part of the Blood Biomarker Challenge – a multi-million pound programme supported by Alzheimer’s Society, Alzheimer’s Research UK, National Institute for Health and Care Research, Gates Ventures and the players of People’s Postcode Lottery.
Professor Fiona Carragher, Chief Policy and Research Officer at the Alzheimer’s Society was also invited to the Warneford site to give interviews on the impact of the study. She said: “Dementia is the UK’s biggest killer, but about a third of people in this country do not get a diagnosis.
“The blood biomarker challenge is about revolutionising the diagnostic pathway. And the blood test is a key part of that.”
The People’s Postcode Lottery also attended on the day to film interviews for an upcoming video for their website.
You can read The Times article (subscription needed) and the Sky News coverage on their websites.
You can watch the Sky News coverage, broadcast on Wednesday 29 January 2025, below.