Blood tests for dementia are heading into NHS memory services under a project led by the University of Oxford and Dementias Platform UK, announced on 2 October 2026. The panel of blood-based biomarkers is still being validated in the READ-OUT study, funded through the Blood Biomarker Challenge. It will now be introduced at between six and ten NHS memory service sites so researchers can work out where in the diagnostic pathway the tests belong. The project is one of nine selected for UK Research and Innovation’s NHS Fit for the Future Dementia Challenge, a programme backed by up to £80 million through the Department for Business and Trade’s Research and Development Missions Accelerator Programme. Researchers from the University of Cambridge and Imperial College London are also involved. According to UKRI, the aim is a blueprint for blood biomarker use across NHS memory clinics by 2029.
The waiting-time target and the other eight projects
UKRI reports that around 60% of people referred for a dementia assessment are diagnosed within 18 weeks, and the challenge sets a target of 92%. Alongside the Oxford blood biomarker work, the nine funded projects include a UCL and UK Dementia Research Institute effort to cut MRI scan time from about 20 minutes to seven, Cognitron’s 15-minute remote cognitive assessment, an AI clinical decision support tool at the University of Cambridge, and sleep apnoea screening work at the University of Bristol. Funding is stage-gated, and UKRI says only projects that hit their milestones carry on receiving money.
What this means for you
Nothing about a dementia assessment changes today. These tests are being studied inside the NHS rather than offered as a consumer product. Memory services continue to diagnose through clinical assessment, cognitive testing and scans where they are needed. Professor Vanessa Raymont, Director of DPUK and Director of R&D at Oxford Health NHS Foundation Trust, said: “Blood-based biomarkers have the potential to transform dementia diagnosis within NHS memory services.” The 2029 date attached to the project is the stated aim for a blueprint, and the funding is conditional on the work proving itself first.
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