Design Council launches five innovative products to help people with dementia.

The Design Council has launched five innovative concepts to help improve the lives of people with dementia.

‘Thinking dogs for dementia’ and an appetite-stimulating ‘scent clock’ are just two of the products and services, which have been chosen to improve the quality of life, for people living with dementia.

The designs have been developed through a national competition, run by the Design Council, in partnership with the Department of Health.

The teams will be showcasing the prototypes of their solutions and services early next year and have 20 weeks to develop their ideas.

Paul Burstow, Care Services Minister called it “fantastic” that the Design Council’s innovation challenge for dementia produced the highest number of applications it has ever received.

He added: “The five winning concepts have made it through an incredibly competitive process and they have the potential to help people live better and longer with dementia. I look forward to seeing how these exciting and innovative projects are developed in the coming months.”

The winning concepts include:

• Dogs for people with early stage dementia. The specially trained dogs will help improve the confidence and independence of people with dementia.

• Buddi - a permanently worn discreet wristband to aid dementia sufferers. The product will provide user identification, personal monitoring and emergency alert functionalities.

• Trading Times - a web and mobile-based service for carers of people with dementia to help them find work that can be delivered on a time and location flexible basis. This will enable carers to supplement their income and protect their savings whilst also enabling them to stay within the world of work.

• The scent clock – a home scent-device to stimulate appetite. The device ‘Ode’ aims to reduce weight loss, dehydration, fatigue and malnutrition that people with dementia experience. The mains-powered unit releases three food fragrances a day, adjustable to coincide with the user’s mealtimes.

• ‘Grouple’ – a secure, private online social network helping people share the responsibilities of caring for someone with dementia.

Mat Hunter, Design Council’s chief design officer said: “This is the latest example of design taking a pioneering role, in rethinking what it means to live with dementia. This challenge has prompted some new and unusual collaborations between designers and industry experts and they have created an inspired range of solutions.”

The Alzheimer’s Society has also welcomed the designs. Jeremy Hughes, chief executive of the Alzheimer's Society, said: “These innovative products have the potential to make a big difference to the quality of life of people with dementia and their carers. They could help people feel supported and enable them to live independently for longer.

"Earlier this month, the Prime Minister threw down the gauntlet to all of us to help improve the picture for people with dementia. This competition provides one example of how this can be done. We now need to rally more people behind the cause. From the boardroom to bus drivers we all have a role to play.”

It is estimated that the five projects could bring a combined return of more than £500m in social care savings through helping people with dementia have better nutrition, shared care and increased physical activity.

There are currently 800,000 people with dementia in the UK. Dementia costs society over £23bn per annum, twice the cost of cancer and there is predicted to be over a million sufferers by 2021.