Yes / Objectives: Increasing diagnostic rates of dementia is a national health priority; to meet this priority, improvement
needs to be made to diagnostic services. It has been increasingly recognized that primary can play a significant role in the
diagnostic journey for people with dementia, with some diagnostic services entirely located in primary care. This article
reviews the extent of the involvement of primary care in diagnostic care pathways for people presenting with memory
complaints within England, and presents examples of innovative approaches, which may be of interest to practitioners.
Method: A rapid review was undertaken to identify articles outlining diagnostic care pathways for dementia involving
primary care in England. Results: Six articles relating to pathway evaluations and innovative approaches involving primary
care were deemed suitable for inclusion in the review. Conclusions: The review found examples of diagnostic pathways
and innovative practices being implemented in in primary care. These practices aligned to the strategic ambitions of
the National Dementia Strategy. However, it was widely acknowledged that there is a need to improve postdiagnostic
pathways; in particular, access to postdiagnostic support. This issue is being reflected in contemporary policy initiatives
such as the Department of Health’s 2016 Joint Declaration on postdiagnostic dementia care and support.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:BRADFORD/oai:bradscholars.brad.ac.uk:10454/11023 |
| Date | 22 November 2016 |
| Creators | Wells, C.E., Smith, Sarah J. |
| Source Sets | Bradford Scholars |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Article, Published version |
| Rights | © 2017 The Authors. This is an Open Access article distributed under the Creative Commons CC-BY-NC license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0/) |
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