The Oxford Brain Health Clinic (OBHC) invited its research participants to an event at Cornerstone Arts Centre, Didcot recently to update them on how their data is providing benefit in the field of dementia prevention and treatment.
The OBHC were delighted to welcome around 40 people, both patients and companions to the event which was supported by the Patient and Public (PPI) Advisory Group from the NIHR Oxford Health Biomedical Research Centre (OH BRC) Dementia Theme.
The agenda began with Professor Clare Mackay reminding attendees that the aim of the OBHC is to make advanced brain health assessments available to patients in a ‘real-world’ setting, and to offer OBHC patients opportunities to get involved in research to improve diagnosis.
Five years after it opened its doors, OBHC has conducted advanced brain health assessments for over 400 memory clinic patients. 95% of those patients agreed to take part in OBHC research, which often includes undergoing MRI scans and cognitive tests, completing health and wellbeing questionnaires and providing access to health records.
Thanks to their participation, OHBC has developed structured reports for memory clinic doctors based on clearer and more detailed brain imaging and provided more detailed cognitive and clinical data to assist with their diagnosis. Clinical team feedback suggests OBHC reports save up to 35% of consultants’ time and increase their confidence in the diagnosis. Participant data continues to be used to develop new assessments and to better understand brain health and dementia risk.
Read/download Clare Mackay’s presentation from the event:
DPhil student Grace Gillis talked in more detail about the information provided from the assessments and how it can be used. Some attendees were particularly interested in seeing the difference between an MRI scan and a CT scan.
Read or download Grace’s presentation from the event:
Dr Vanessa Raymont discussed how dementia research and clinical services are changing. In particular, she explained why the future may be more focused on preventing dementia whilst, at the same time, new drugs may become available soon to treat patients. In both cases, early diagnosis will be important, and Vanessa spoke about the potential for blood tests to support this.
Watch Dr Raymonts presentation on You Tube.
PPI advisor, Anna Lucas, spoke about her experience as a member of the PPI Advisory Group for the OH BRC Dementia Theme, including why she decided to get involved, examples of the projects she has worked on and how it has benefited her.
Read/download Ana’s presentation from the event:
Finally DPhil student Jasmine Blane explained how Anna and other lay advisors have been instrumental to the design of the OBHC follow-up survey, which aims to understand the changes patients experience after diagnosis. OBHC lay advisors have been key to ensuring that participation in the follow-up survey is flexible; both in terms of the assessments they choose to participate in and where and how they choose to complete them.
Read/download Jasmine’s presentation from the event:
If you would like to find out how you can support OBHC and get involved email: jasmine.blane@psych.ox.ac.uk or bhcadmin@psych.ox.ac.u
