People with dementia and their carers can struggle to access available support. There are several reasons for this: They may be unaware of the services that exist. They may not know which ones are relevant or available to them. Or they may not know how and when they can or should access support.

Several factors can contribute to obstacles to accessing available support services, including:

• Health and social care systems are complex
• Services change
• Relevant information is not presented in an understandable way
• Difficulties for some with using online tools
• Stigma associated with dementia

Not accessing, and not knowing how to access, available services can lead to heightened anxiety and exhaustion. People can struggle to cope and plan ahead. This may result in a poorer quality of life.

Researchers from the University of Warwick and University of Oxford have been working with people affected by dementia, service providers and commissioners to find ways of addressing the issues mentioned above. This has included working closely with Dementia Oxfordshire to ensure that identified solutions are relevant and feasible.

You can find more information on the research team on our team members page.

This blog is a way for us to keep everyone informed about how our research is progressing and to stimulate conversations in the wider community about helping those who need support.

The Patient and Public Involvement and Engagement (PPI-E) Group and Research Team agreed on a provisional set of blog post topics and publication timeline, with Dr Chris Lawes volunteering to write the first set of blog posts given his involvement in the project from the very beginning.

We would like to thank all the members from the PPI-E Group and Stakeholder Reference Group who reviewed and commented on all the drafts of the Blog Posts prior to publication. Their comments and suggestions have been acted upon. We are grateful for all their time and support of this project.

Anyone interested in learning more about this work can contact the Principal Investigator of this project, Dr Rene Wiedner from the University of Warwick via email (rene.wiedner@wbs.ac.uk).