The Hospital Dementia Services Project is an innovative mixed-methods study funded by the National Health and Medical Research Council to investigate how health and aged care system factors influence care outcomes for hospital patients with dementia. People with dementia have comparatively high rates of hospitalisation and longer hospital stays which has an impact on their physical and mental wellbeing. The project focuses on patients aged 50 or over who had an overnight stay in a public hospital in New South Wales during 2006-07. This publication describes the project's objectives and design features.