How does the Scottish Dementia Clinical Research Network work?
We have been funded from the Chief Scientist Office of the Scottish Government to build a network of staff and researchers across Scotland.
We started in the four centres of Grampian, Greater Glasgow and Clyde, Lothian and Tayside. We expanded in Fife, Dumfries and Galloway, The Borders and Forth Valley and now we have staff in every mainland Health Board area in Scotland.
We have dedicated staff who are employed by the SDCRN. Their role is key in the success of the network and they do things like:
- attending meetings where people with dementia and their carers are going to be and tell people about the work of the network.
- meeting up with clinicians and encouraging them to think about dementia research and how it can fit into their everyday clinical work.
- meeting with voluntary organisations and letting people know the kind of services the network can offer.
The Clinical Studies Officers are the people who you will see if you agree to participate in the research interest register. They will make an appointment to meet you to take your details and do baseline assessments. This data is entered into our secure database. When a dementia research study is approved we use the database to identify potential participants to contact.