Dr Sen Kallumpuram is a Consultant Old Age Psychiatrist at the Luton Memory Assessment Service. He was asked to showcase what he has learned since joining the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR)’s Applied Research Collaboration (ARC) Fellowship in April 2025.
The ARC EoE Fellowship Showcase was held on 5 March 2026. At the event, Dr Kallumpuram presented a poster about improvements to dementia diagnosis rates throughout the past year in Central Bedfordshire, and the importance of a joined-up approach to treatment with primary care services in the region. His work to-date and the quality of his research landed him the runner-up award for the ‘Best Poster Presentation’ at the event.
Dr Kallumpuram explained that he worked with GPs as part of the fellowship in Central Bedfordshire to develop an assessment template for those with advanced dementia across primary care settings. He provided training and supervision to GPs and senior nurses at two GP surgeries as part of a pilot project.
Dr Kallumpuram spoke about the data he collected by working with various teams across the Trust. This helped him to provide quicker access to service users, so they could receive the care they needed at an earlier stage. Data presented showed that dementia diagnosis rates across the Central Bedfordshire locality rose from 63.8% in April 2025 to 66.1% in January 2026.
NIHR is a UK government funder of clinical, public health and social care research. Its aim is to respond to and meet the needs of local populations, health and care systems. It provides fellowships to people working across health, care and voluntary service settings in the East of England (EoE).
Dr Kallumpuram was accepted onto the ‘Impact’ Fellowship programme, helping healthcare professionals implement evidence-based improvements across the NHS.
Commenting on his presentation, Dr Kallumpuram said: “It was a pleasure to share learnings with NHS colleagues in the region about the importance of diagnosing and treating dementia early on. The funding I have received as part of the fellowship has made a significant impact, and I look forward to taking all learnings forward to continue providing high quality care for our community.”
If you would like to learn more about the ARC EoE Fellowship, you can visit the NIHR website.