Accelerator Programme: New smartphone technology to improve NHS dementia support

Kneu Health is a health technology company, from the University of Oxford, on a mission to transform neurological care. Their app turns people's phones into a medical device, enabling healthcare teams to track patients' conditions and offer more personalised care plans.

Patients living with Parkinson's disease and dementia, as well as those experiencing memory concerns who are awaiting a memory assessment, all stand to benefit from this technology. The products will help families with the day-to-day care of their loved one, enabling close monitoring to avoid issues like dehydration and helping prevent avoidable hospital admissions and easing pressure on the NHS.

Joining the Alzheimer’s Society Accelerator programme

Our annual programme supports innovators to develop products which help people living with dementia. Alongside investment and business support, the programme also supports access to members of our Innovation Collective – a community of experts by experience and experts by profession across the dementia and innovation worlds.

Caroline Cake, co-founder and CEO of Neu Health, told us:

Having seen both my mother and grandmother live with dementia, I’ve always believed that solutions in this space must be shaped by those with lived experience. 

'The Alzheimer’s Society Accelerator Programme has enabled us to do exactly that - working alongside patients and caregivers to build something that is not only clinically robust, but genuinely supportive in everyday life.

'When the opportunity arose to join the Programme, we were excited to partner with a prestigious organisation, sharing the same motivations to support those living with long-term neurological conditions. We wanted to work together collaborate with people who understand the lived experience of cognitive decline and to build something that truly meets their needs.'

Not just designing for people, but designing with people

During our time on the programme, we were designing a product specifically for individuals experiencing memory concerns or awaiting diagnosis. Our aim was to support people during this time and help prepare them for their upcoming memory assessment.

We ran a co-design workshop with seven people living with mild cognitive impairment (MCI) or currently awaiting a diagnosis, as well as six caregivers who supported them day-to-day.

We worked alongside our lived experience group in over 50 hours of structured user testing. Through qualitative interviews, prototype walkthroughs, ideation sessions and scenario role play, we gathered extremely valuable insight from people with lived experience.

Collaboratively, we identified direct improvements such as:

• simplified navigation
• expanded practice modes for cognitive assessments to reduce anxiety and improve result validity,
• a dedicated 'Help' tab for quick access to support,
• and clearer appointment language.

User testing showed 60–100% positive response rates to the design changes made in response to feedback. Every single group preferred the updated step-by-step instructions, and all groups valued the newly introduced practice opportunities. We saw task completion ability improve by over 60%. 

The app is now being used in the NHS

The product shaped by this process is now actively in use across two NHS Trusts, giving patients a supportive way to prepare for their memory assessment appointments while generating objective data for their healthcare teams.

User testing improvements have ensured that early engagement has been positive.

• 95% of patients who signed up to the app have engaged, providing richer data to their clinicians at the point of memory assessment.
• We’ve received feedback from one patient who told us, “The app helped me feel prepared. It reminded me to look after my memory and keep on top of how I was doing. I felt much more prepared and felt better about going into my memory assessment”.

Being part of the Accelerator Programme has reinforced the need to keep collaborating with people with lived experience to better serve people across the neurology pathway.