ArticleBMC geriatrics2022
Characterising Australian memory clinics: current practice and service needs informing national service guidelines.
Article in BMC geriatrics, 2022. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 15 papers.
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Who cites it
15 citing papers in PubMed.
- Improving Access to Cognitive Interventions for People With Dementia in Australian Community-Based Settings.Australasian journal on ageing · 2026Review
- Referrals to allied health professionals for people with dementia: an analysis of general practitioner data from two Australian primary health networks.Family medicine and community health · 2025Article
- Changing patterns of referrals in response to a multicomponent rehabilitation program for people with dementia and their care partners.Australasian journal on ageing · 2025Article
- Implementation of Cognitive (Neuropsychological) Interventions for Older Adults in Clinical or Community Settings: A Scoping Review.Neuropsychology review · 2025Article
- The road to young-onset dementia diagnosis: Findings from the Joint Solutions Project.Alzheimer's & dementia : the journal of the Alzheimer's Association · 2025Article
- Sleep disturbances and disorders in the memory clinic: Self-report, actigraphy, and polysomnography.Journal of Alzheimer's disease : JAD · 2025Article
- Is Australia ready for the rollout of amyloid-targeting therapies for Alzheimer disease? Results from a national survey characterising current infrastructure capability, workforce and training needs of memory and cognition clinics.Internal medicine journal · 2025Article
- Equity of access in rural and metropolitan dementia diagnosis, management, and care experiences: an exploratory qualitative study.International journal for equity in health · 2025Article
- The Holy Grail: highlighting the need for equitable access to dementia treatments and clinical trials.The Lancet regional health. Western Pacific · 2025Review
- Delivery of Neuropsychological Interventions for Adult and Older Adult Clinical Populations: An Australian Expert Working Group Clinical Guidance Paper.Neuropsychology review · 2024Review
- Dementia diagnostic and treatment services in the Western Pacific: challenges, preparedness and opportunities in the face of amyloid-targeting therapies.The Lancet regional health. Western Pacific · 2024Review
- Enhancing post-diagnostic care in Australian memory clinics: Health professionals' insights into current practices, barriers and facilitators, and desirable support.Dementia (London, England) · 2024Article
- Forward with Dementia: process evaluation of an Australian campaign to improve post-diagnostic support.BMC health services research · 2023Article
- Tackling Dementia Together via The Australian Dementia Network (ADNeT): A Summary of Initiatives, Progress and Plans.Journal of Alzheimer's disease : JAD · 2023Review
- Developing, implementing, and evaluating the first national Memory and Cognition Clinic Guidelines in Australia.Alzheimer's & dementia (New York, N. Y.)Article
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Authors and funding
10 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundMemory clinics (MCs) play a key role in accurate and timely diagnoses and treatment of dementia and mild cognitive impairment. However, within Australia, there are little data available on current practices in MCs, which hinder international comparisons for best practice, harmonisation efforts and national coordination. Here, we aimed to characterise current service profiles of Australian MCs.
methodsThe 'Australian Dementia Network Survey of Expert Opinion on Best Practice and the Current Clinical Landscape' was conducted between August-September 2020 as part of a larger-scale Delphi process deployed to develop national MC guidelines. In this study, we report on the subset of questions pertaining to current practice including wait-times and post-diagnostic care.
resultsResponses were received from 100 health professionals representing 60 separate clinics (45 public, 11 private, and 4 university/research clinics). The majority of participants were from clinics in metropolitan areas (79%) and in general were from high socioeconomic areas. While wait-times varied, only 28.3% of clinics were able to offer an appointment within 1-2 weeks for urgent referrals, with significantly more private clinics (58.3%) compared to public clinics (19.5%) being able to do so. Wait-times were less than 8 weeks for 34.5% of non-urgent referrals. Only 20.0 and 30.9% of clinics provided cognitive interventions or post-diagnostic support respectively, with 7.3% offering home-based reablement programs, and only 12.7% offering access to group-based education. Metropolitan clinics utilised neuropsychological assessments for a broader range of cases and were more likely to offer clinical trials and access to research opportunities.
conclusionsIn comparison to similar countries with comprehensive government-funded public healthcare systems (i.e., United Kingdom, Ireland and Canada), wait-times for Australian MCs are long, and post-diagnostic support or evidence-based strategies targeting cognition are not common practice. The timely and important results of this study highlight a need for Australian MCs to adopt a more holistic service of multidisciplinary assessment and post-diagnostic support, as well as the need for the number of Australian MCs to be increased to match the rising number of dementia cases.
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