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NHS dementia researchers to stretch recruitment to the Outer Hebrides after award of prestigious study
NHS Research Scotland's Neuroprogressive and Dementia Network (NRS NDN) has been awarded a prestigious study which will see it recruit participants from the Western Isles for the first time
READ-OUT (REAl-world Dementia OUTcomes) is part of the Blood Biomarker Challenge — a multi-million-pound programme which aims to capitalise on recent breakthroughs in potential dementia blood tests and generate the evidence needed for them to be validated for use in the NHS.
The study plans to assess the usefulness of blood-based biomarkers for people attending NHS memory clinics, with ambitions to enrol over 3,000 people from 28 NHS memory clinics and community buses across the UK, in turn helping to understand which biomarkers perform the best in diagnosing Alzheimer and non-Alzheimer dementias.
For NRS NDN, READ-OUT will include both urban and rural participants, with study sites arranged for Tayside, Glasgow, Lanarkshire, Dumfries and Galloway, Ayrshire and Arran, and the Western Isles.
NHS Research Scotland and NRS NDN are excited to be playing an important role in the prestigious study which is being led by Professor Vanessa Raymont from the University of Oxford.
Professor Raymont said “We are at an exciting time for dementia research, but it is important that new developments can work across the whole of the UK. It is essential that Scotland, along with the other home nations, is included in national studies of this kind and we are delighted that the Outer Hebrides will be participating in their first-ever dementia study.
“If it is feasible to use a blood test — sent to a lab in London — as part of dementia assessment on, for example, the Isle of Lewis, then it opens up the strong likelihood of it being feasible anywhere in the UK.”
NRS NDN Network Manager, Jacqui Kerr said: “We are immensely proud to be part of the READ-OUT team, assessing the promise which multiple new and existing blood tests potentially hold when looking at a range of dementia types, from Alzheimer disease and vascular dementia to frontotemporal dementia, and dementia with Lewy bodies.
“Ultimately, it’s about helping people with dementia receive a timely and accurate diagnosis. How this is done shouldn’t depend on where you live. And having a diagnosis provides access to post-diagnostic information and support as well as the opportunity to take part in medical research, clinical trials, and access new treatments.”
The first three years of READ-OUT will focus on the initial fact-finding study which will take blood tests, with a further two years then centred around a clinical trial with 880 people to explore how having a blood test for dementia affects diagnosis and quality of life, patients and carers, impact on care, and how the results should be communicated to patients.
NRS NDN supports research into neuroprogressive diseases such as dementia, Parkinson’s Disease, Huntington Disease, Multiple Sclerosis, and Motor Neurone Disease.
The network has major sites in Dundee, Edinburgh, Aberdeen and Glasgow, with the teams across the whole country working to give everyone in Scotland the opportunity to take part in research. If you would like to find out more about participation, please contact tay.ndntayside@nhs.scot.
Publication date: 30th May 2025
