The Health Minister Michael McGimpsey has today officially opened a new Dementia Services Development Centre in Belfast.

The centre aims to improve the lives of people with dementia, their carers and families.

Mr McGimpsey said: “Today represents a very positive step forward in the continued development of our dementia services here in Northern Ireland. The move to these new premises will enable the centre to extend and improve its services for people with dementia and their carers.

“My Department has recently agreed to co-fund the dementia centre, with Atlantic Philanthropies, for a further three years following the successful pilot programme. The £1.2million grant will allow the centre to provide a range of resources including education and training, consultancy, and library, information and research services.”

The centre writes and publishes practice guides and training packages, in addition to offering consultancy, and an information service about the latest thinking in dementia care. It also undertakes research into ways of improving the quality of life of those with dementia and their carers, and will undertake Northern Ireland specific research as part of the extension of the pilot programme.

The Minister continued: “Our goal must be to ensure that people with dementia are given every chance to live their lives as independently as possible and to the utmost of their capacity. This centre will go along way in helping us to achieve such a goal.”

Notes to editors:

1. Bamford estimated (2007) that in Northern Ireland over 16,000 people aged over 65 have dementia, of which 10,000 have been diagnosed as having Alzheimer’s. The number of diagnosed cases is estimated as likely to rise to over 20,000 by 2017 and to over 47,000 by 2051.

2. The Dementia Services Development Centre has recently moved to their new property at The Innovation Centre on Queen's Island in Belfast. They previously operated from premises on the University of Ulster Jordanstown campus.

3. The pilot NI Centre operates as a branch of the Dementia Services Development Centre, which is based in the University of Stirling, and which is itself run by a charitable organisation, the Dementia Services Development Trust, whose aim is to promote awareness and high standards of care for people with dementia.

4. In March the Minister gave approval for the Department to enter into a partnership funding arrangement with Atlantic Philanthropies to support the continuation of a pilot NI Office of the Dementia Services Development Centre over the next three years.

5. A Northern Ireland Dementia Strategy is currently being developed and is expected to be released for consultation early in 2010.

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