Dementia diagnosis waiting list time a concern, says Martin Reilly

Currently around 350 people in the Western Trust area are waiting longer than nine weeks for a diagnosis appointment for dementia.
Martin ReillyMartin Reilly
Martin Reilly

SDLP Councillor Martin Reilly, who also works for the Alzheimer’s Society, raised the concern at the November meeting of Derry and Strabane’s Health and Community Committee.

Following a presentation by Teresa Molloy, Western Trust Director Performance & Service Improvement and Dr Bob Brown, Western Trust Director of Primary Care and Older People’s Services/Executive Director of Nursing to the committee, Councillor Reilly asked what the Trust were planning to do to reduce the waiting list.

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He said: “It’s really important because the number of people that are waiting for that service can only get access to services they require once they have a diagnosis.”

Dr Bob Brown addressed the matter saying: “We have slipped a little having made good progress and overall the number is over 300 and the challenge through the last two years has been multifaceted.

“Seeing a person in their home who has a memory challenge has been difficult both from a public perspective initially and also from a workforce perspective given the challenge of staffing.

“We have put into place some memory service nurses and we are looking at additional ways and means to support and enhance that model of memory clinic assessment.

“We will continue to work very hard to address that.”

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