Memory clinics are all about stigma, not screening

doi:10.1136/bmj.b860

Published 3 March 2009, doi:10.1136/bmj.b860
Cite this as: BMJ 2009;338:b860

Letters

Memory clinics and dementia

Memory clinics are all about stigma, not screening

The first 150 words of the full text of this article appear below.

Critics are right to question the evidence base for memory clinicsif the only purpose of memory clinics is to screen for drugtreatments.¹ However, they also provide an acceptable, accessible,high quality assessment, rehabilitation, and follow-up facilityfor people with memory concerns or suspected dementia and theirfamilies.²

If dementia is construed as a common long term disability oflater life, then memory clinics can neutralise the double stigmaof age and dementia and provide timely interventions that helppeople and their families to live well with the condition. Apan-European study of dementia noted that stigma associatedwith dementia was linked to a lack of supportive interventionsor their underuse and was less in countries with widespreadmemory clinics and other dementia care services.³ To counteractstigma, the dementia strategy recommends memory clinics to actas a reference point for people, carers, professionals, andthe public and as . . . [Full text of this article]

David Jolley, consultant psychiatrist and honorary reader¹, Esme Moniz-Cook, honorary professor of clinical psychology and ageing²

¹ Personal Social Services Research Unit (PSSRU) Dover Building, University of Manchester, Manchester M13 9PL, ² Institute of Rehabilitation, Hull York Medical School, University of Hull, Hull HU3 2PG

david.jolley@manchester.ac.uk