Outcomes and care experiences for people with dementia are worse than for those without the condition and the workforce is in crisis. High quality care requires adequate training that includes an understanding of those living with the condition.

Time for Dementia is an educational programme in which healthcare students visit a person with dementia and their family carer over a two-year period (Banerjee et al., 2017). People with dementia and their carers are our ‘experts’ and teach students about life with dementia, healthcare experiences and what helps them to live well with dementia. The aim of the programme is to improve student attitudes, knowledge, and empathy towards dementia.

Since 2014, 6500 healthcare students, including medical, nursing and allied health professions, have undertaken the programme in the UK at 7 different universities. Research indicates that there are higher levels of knowledge and positive attitudes in students undertaking the programme, compared to those who did not. This symposium will present several sub-studies outlining what has been learned so far from the mixed methods evaluation of Time for Dementia. The symposium will include 3 speakers on 3 key themes:

1. 1. The development and delivery of Time for Dementia programme and educational outcomes for students.

2. 2. The factors influencing career preferences for working with people with dementia.

3. 3. The development of empathy towards people with dementia in undergraduate healthcare students

Key take-aways

• How to deliver a lived experience programme at scale.

• The value of a lived experience education programme.

• How undergraduate education can shape empathy and career preferences.