GPs ‘failing to warn patients with early signs of dementia’
GPs are failing to diagnose early dementia despite a major Government drive to improve detection rates, research shows today.
Experts say some doctors are reluctant to tell patients they have the disease as ‘nothing can be done’.
Others are thought to be telling patients their symptoms are nothing to worry about and a normal part of growing old.
The findings by University College London academics are worrying as ministers are trying to improve early diagnosis rates as part of a strategy launched in 2012.
The Dementia Challenge aims to detect the illness as promptly as possible so patients can have drugs to slow the progression. The Government also doubled its research funding to £66million a year in the hope of finding a cure for dementia by 2025.
In the first study of its kind, researchers assessed whether
‘Confusion or forgetfulness’
encouraging patients to see their GP with early symptoms improved diagnosis rates. They looked at 14,558 patients at 22 surgeries in London, Hertfordshire and Essex.
Half of practices sent leaflets and personal letters to all patients over 70 urging them to see their GP if they had any confusion or forgetfulness. Many more patients booked appointments, but it did not improve diagnosis rates.
Professor Gill Livingstone, the psychiatrist who led the study, said she was surprised at how many families were struggling to get a diagnosis.
Professor Livingstone, whose study is published in the journal PLOs Medicine, said she thought there were three reasons for the findings.
she said: ‘There are some GPs – a minority – who think that if dementia isn’t curable it’s not worth knowing about. But diabetes can’t be cured, yet we don’t stop treating it.
‘Others think patients don’t want to be told they have dementia. But an early diagnosis has so many benefits.’
As well as drugs to control symptoms and temporarily halt the decline in memory loss, families can arrange extra support for their loved ones.
Professor Livingstone said the third reason was that waiting times for memory clinics which diagnose the illness were too long so GPs thought it wasn’t worthwhile referring patients.
An estimated 850,000 adults in the UK are living with dementia, a number expected to rise as the population ages, but as many as one-third have never been diagnosed.
Detection rates have improved since the Government’s strategy began, to around two-thirds of patients, but the majority only find out they have the illness in the moderate or advanced stage when little can be done. Professor Helen stokes-Lampard, chairman of the Royal College of GPs, said: ‘Pressuring patients to seek early advice, especially for short term memory lapses, can cause harm and create unnecessary worry.’
NHs England said: ‘The number of people receiving a diagnosis of dementia has increased significantly over the past few years. This study underscores the crucial role of the doctor-patient relationship in achieving that diagnosis.’