Dementia audit: Memory Assessment Services 2023/2024 (NAD)
The National Audit of Dementia (NAD) has published a Spotlight Audit on Memory Assessment Services. The results presented in this report relate to patients who had appointments for assessment from the beginning of 2023, in addition to information about service provision.
It shows that the waiting time, from the point of referral to appointment, and then to diagnosis, has increased significantly. However, NHS Digital figures show that, at the same time, the rate at which people are being diagnosed has increased. Factors affecting waiting times include increased numbers of admissions to services, which the Memory Services National Assessment Programme found to have increased by 130% per week since 2009, while average staffing levels have not increased in accordance.
Results also show that there is still a great deal of variation between services, including:
- average waiting time for patients
- the proportion of patients diagnosed with dementia, and
- the provision of post diagnostic support and therapy.
This degree of variation suggests that services are commissioned and resourced differently, which means that the experience of people using the services will be different depending on their locality. This audit also found different results for patients in the most deprived areas. As such, recommendations in this report are aimed at actions to address variation, and to highlight the need for provision of high-quality services on a basis of equitable access.
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