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People living with dementia and their carers in socio鈥慹conomically disadvantaged areas experience significant barriers in accessing and navigating  primary care, a new study led by University of Manchester has found.

Poorer communities often face additional difficulties to accessing consistent, proactive and clearly defined dementia support within general practice.

Based on 20 in鈥慸epth interviews with people with dementia and their carers, the researchers highlight how socioeconomic disadvantage  adds additional  complexity to their healthcare.

Funded by the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR ) School for Primary Care Research, the study is published in the .

Participants were recruited from areas ranked in the lowest two quintiles of the ensuring that voices often absent from dementia research were highlighted.

The researchers analysed the interviews using reflexive thematic analysis, a qualitative research method used to identify, analyse, and interpret patterns of meaning.

It revealed four interconnected themes that shaped participants鈥� experiences:

• Proactive continuity of care is essential to helping people with dementia retain a sense of identity as the condition advances.
• Formal support often falls away just as care needs escalate, leaving families feeling abandoned at the most critical stages.
• Widespread difficulty navigating what respondents see as a fragmented and often bewildering primary care system.
• Uncertainty across general practice about who is responsible for ongoing dementia support, with many patients and carers unclear about where the condition sits within routine care.

While views varied, some participants felt local resources and individual social networks influenced the quality of care they received.

The findings suggest that clearer communication, proactive follow鈥憉p and more consistent relationships with primary care professionals could significantly improve the experiences of people with dementia.

The study also emphasises the need for a clearer definition of primary care鈥檚 role in dementia management, particularly as policy discussions increasingly point toward primary care鈥憀ed post鈥慸iagnostic support.

Lead researcher Dr from The University of Manchester said: 鈥淚t was a real privilege to interview the people with dementia and the carers for this study, and I鈥檓 very grateful to them all.

鈥淥ur work shows that people with dementia in disadvantaged areas are navigating a system that often feels fragmented, reactive and unclear, at a time when stability and continuity matter most.鈥�

鈥淏y strengthening proactive contact and clarifying who is responsible for dementia care, primary care services can make a profound difference to patients and families.

鈥淎ddressing these gaps is essential to ensuring equitable, person鈥慶entred dementia care across the UK.鈥�

Co-author , director of the NIHR Greater 91直播 PSRC and professor at The University of Manchester, added: 鈥淭he themes we identified are an important insight into how people with dementia feel about the healthcare they receive from their primary care teams.

鈥淯nderstanding this is an important step to improving the post-diagnostic healthcare we offer for people with dementia in the community.鈥�

• The paper Experiences of primary care for people with 2 dementia from socio-economically 3 disadvantaged areas: a qualitative study, published in the British Journal of General Practice is available DOI: https://doi.org/10.3399/BJGP.2025.0407