Memory Assessment Services Summit

Dementia United organised the Greater Manchester memory assessment services summit on 13 August 2020 with the goal of discussing the current challenges facing the services during the COVID-19 pandemic and sharing best practice. Discussion at the summit focussed in three areas for which separate seminar sessions were held: referral, diagnosis and support. A report of the outcomes of the summit records those discussions and the best practice suggestions which were shared.

• GM Memory Assessment Services Summit Output

The slides from the seminar sessions are also available:

• Main Meeting
• Seminar 1 – Referral
• Seminar 2 – Diagnosis (Part 1 and Part 2)
• Seminar 3 – Support

Before the MAS Summit, Dementia United also undertook a mapping exercise to understand the position of memory assessment services in Greater Manchester and the challenges and changes they’ve experienced as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.

• GM Memory Assessment Services Post-COVID-19 Landscape

Best practice resources

Over the course of the COVID-19 pandemic a number of good practice resources have been created to help those who work in memory assessment services and diagnose people living with dementia manage the current challenges. Below is a collection of resources which we believe are most useful.

• Memory Assessment Services – A New Way of Working, from NHS England
• Bury Dementia Diagnostic Pathway
• Diagnosis of Dementia for People Living in Care Homes
• Diagnosis and support for people with young onset dementia and their families, from the Young Dementia Network
• Memory Services Considerations: Endemic Covid-19 & beyond, this has been developed in collaboration between North of England and Yorkshire and Humber Clinical Networks with the help and support from colleagues across the country and in particular London clinical network.
• Memory Services National Accreditation Association Programme Webinar Remote Consultation and Digital Diagnosis on 3 September 2020, the slides from each presentation are available:
  • Memory service assessments: a new way of working – Dr Ben Underwood, Consultant Psychiatrist, Deputy Medical Director, Cambridgeshire and Peterborough NHS Foundation Trust
  • Clinical psychology in memory services: adapting to remote practice – Dr Becci Dow, Consultant Clinical Psychologist, Oxford Health NHS Foundation Trust
  • Neuroimaging for dementia diagnosis in the COVID-19 era – Dr Jeremy Isaacs, Consultant Neurologist, St George’s Hospital and Clinical Director, NHS London Dementia Clinical Network
  • Service user experience of remote consultation and digital diagnosis – Ella Robinson, Senior Policy Officer, Alzheimer’s Society
• MSNAP practical guidelines on completing neuropsychological testing, seminar on 15 July 2020
• Proposed Primary Care Dementia Diagnostic Pathway
• Dementia Wrap-around Model from South East Essex
• Options for assessing your memory during the coronavirus pandemic – NHS East of England