We want everyone living with dementia in the UK to access to a playlist for personally meaningful music that can help them live well with dementia.
One in three people born in the UK today is expected to develop dementia. There is no cure for dementia but music can help. Personally meaningful music can provide a lifeline for people living with dementia, their carers, and health and social care services by improving connection and communication, and reducing distress, anxiety or the need for medication. Our goal is to have person-centred music integrated into prevention and dementia care pathways from diagnosis through to end of life care. Personalised playlists provide a low-cost but high-impact intervention that is available and accessible to everyone.
Playlist for Life provides bespoke training based on over two decades of scientific research to health and social care professionals to embed playlists into dementia care. Through a vast UK-wide network of community partners and ‘Help Points’, we also bring music into the heart of communities, providing free support and resources to empower people affected by dementia to make personalised playlists.
Read more about our impact across the UK below. To find out more about how to champion the power of music in dementia care and policy, contact
To find out more about how to champion the power of music in dementia care and our policy work, contact Dr Mehar Shagufta at mehar@playlistforlife.org.uk.
Research, studies and evaluations highlighting the impact of personally meaningful music on people living with dementia.
Hear from people living with dementia how playlists have helped them live well and manage symptoms of dementia.
A UK-wide annual awareness-raising campaign celebrating the power of meaningful music to boost and protect brain health that you can get involved in.
National Dementia Strategy
Scotland’s 2023 National Dementia Strategy recognises Playlist for Life as a ‘non-pharmacological intervention that could improve cognition, social engagement and quality of life and decrease stress and distress’. This followed Playlist for Life’s strategy consultation response, based on engagement events and surveys with people living with dementia, unpaid carers, health and social care professionals and community leaders from our Help Point network. Read the full response here.
A case study, highlighting the impact of Playlist for Life in dementia care within NHS Fife is also included as an example of best practice in the strategy’s 2-year delivery plan.
Ministerial Support & Engagement
In 2024 the Scottish Minister for Mental Health and Wellbeing, Maree Todd, expressed her support of Playlist for Life during our National Playlist Day campaign, saying:
“I know, as a mental health pharmacist, that music as medicine can be a powerful intervention, in particular for people experiencing distress and anxiety.”
Four motions were raised in the Scottish Parliament by MSPs, all of which gained cross-party support. In 2019, MSP Kenneth Gibson introduced a motion recognising Playlist for Life and its impact. MSP Pam Duncan-Glancy raised another motion in September 2024 and MSP Sandesh Gulhane marked National Playlist Day 2024 by raising a motion too. MSP Annie Wells also introduced a motion to celebrate a care home worker who used Playlist for Life with residents at a care home in Glasgow to bring back memories..
Health and Social Care Partnerships
Playlist for Life has training partnerships with Care Groups and NHS Health boards across Scotland. A key partnership with NHS Fife, which has been embedding Playlist for Life into their dementia care since 2017, has made playlists available to patients across 12 wards, Older Adults Community Mental Health services, and Accident and Emergency services, with teams documenting lifechanging and lasting benefits for residents and carers.
In 2019 researchers found the use of music as a diversion technique significantly reduced levels of agitation and led to patients becoming markedly less stressed during clinical procedures in 96% of cases in Accident & Emergency wards. In 2024 West Fife’s Older Adults Community Mental Health Team reported an 80% reduction in the use of PRN medication after integrating personally meaningful music into the care of a small pilot group of people living with dementia.
“The power of music is so significant, we must work together to unleash its potential by using it as a therapeutic intervention to support people with dementia, enhancing the care we provide.” – Helen Skinner, Dementia Nurse Consultant at NHS Fife
Community Partnerships
We are proud to work with a wide range of partners across the dementia community to expand our reach and impact. We have established over 600 Help Points in Scotland in partnership with grassroots community organisations where local families can access free resources (available in 12 languages) and support to create playlists. We currently have Community Mental Health and Wellbeing funding to raise awareness of the power of playlists in Glasgow City, East Dunbartonshire, Inverclyde, East Renfrewshire and Falkirk.
We have established training partnerships with NHS boards and partners including Alzheimer Scotland, Meeting Centres, Age Scotland, SFRS etc.
We work with care home providers, health and social care professionals and community-based organisations that are integrating personalised playlists into dementia care and helping raise awareness.
Support from sector leaders and Ministers
Professor Martin Green, Chief Executive of Care England has been supportive of the use of personalised music in social care. In a recent interview he shared:
“I think music is an essential part of most people’s lives and musical preferences should be part of any individual care assessment. I would encourage all care providers to think about how they use music to connect with the person’s sense of self, to enable people to reminisce about important parts of their life, and to connect people within a residential care home and foster a sense of community. Music can act as an important part of connections between residents and their families and friends. I believe music is one of the most powerful tools we have to support people living with dementia.”
Matt Hancock, the former Health and Social Care Secretary of State between 2018 and 2021 supported Playlist for Life as a cost effective form of social prescribing. In an article for the National Academy of Social Prescribing he shared:
“And I must pay tribute to the pioneering work of the charity Playlist for Life. Their work creating personal playlists for people with dementia led to a 60% reduction in the need for psychotropic medication at one care home.
This is the kind of cheap, easy-to-use social prescription that I’m fully behind. Because dementia is one of the major health challenges we face for the future. The number of people with dementia is set to rise from 850,000 today to more than a million in less than a decade. Personal playlists could offer a simple solution to this growing problem.”
Health and Social Care Partnerships
Tees, Esk and Wear Valley NHS Foundation Trust: Tees, Esk and Wear Valley NHS Foundation Trust: Introducing Playlist for Life saw improvements in the quality of life in late-stage dementia (QUALID) score for some people living with dementia. Dr Joanna Marshall, Consultant Clinical Psychologist, calls Playlist for Life a first-line treatment to help people living with dementia, calling it “the paracetamol of non-pharmacological interventions”.
One of the largest care home providers in England and Wales Hallmark Luxury Care Homes, has partnered with Playlist for Life to provide training on the strategic use of music for residents living with dementia in its 22 care homes.
Hallmark Luxury Care Homes has now invested in Playlist for Life’s ‘Train the Trainer’ programme to up-skill team members roll out Playlist for Life training across their care homes.
Community Partnerships
We have established over 1500 Help Points in England in partnership with grassroots community organisations where local families can access free resources (available in 12 languages) and support to create playlists.
In England we work with national organisations including Dementia UK and Alzheimer’s Society and Dementia Community and more.
Ministerial Support and Engagement
The former First Minister of Wales Mark Drakeford and The Welsh Government commended the use of Playlist for Life in care homes in Wales. “From raising spirits to reducing anxiety, creating playlists have changed the lives of residents living with dementia”.
Community Partnerships
To enhance awareness and make our resources more accessible, we have established a network of 149 community-based organisations, known as Help Points, across Wales. This network includes library hubs, local council services, Fire & Rescue services, faith centres, and more. These centres provide individuals affected by dementia with free access to information, resources, and, in some cases, support in creating and using personalised playlists.
Community Partnerships
In Northern Ireland, we’ve developed a network of 172 community-based organisations through our Help Point network to broaden awareness and increase access to our resources. This network includes libraries, Dementia NI centres, Alzheimer’s Society centres, faith centres, and various other local organisations where our resources can be accessed.
