Diagnosing dementia in primary care

Dementia often goes undiagnosed or is not diagnosed until the condition is considerably advanced. Our research will investigate several aspects of the diagnostic process for dementia in primary care. As a research group we are particularly interested in:

(1) The attitudes and knowledge of GPs, practice nurses, PWD and their carers/family members towards diagnosing dementia.

(2) Identifying and recording how dementia diagnosis occurs in primary care settings.

(3) The impact of a diagnosis on PWD and carers particularly in terms of access to services and planning for the future.

(4) Developing and evaluating new approaches aimed at improving the process of diagnosis. This is a new group and we currently have one project underway 'Identifying possible dementia during the over 75 health assessment'. 

Group Leader & Contact Person

Dr Emily Hansen, Research Fellow in Primary Health Care

Research Team

Professor Andrew Robinson, WDREC Co-Director

Dr Christine Stirling, WDREC Senior Research Fellow

Ms Karen Herne, WDREC Research Assistant

Ms Susan Leggett, WDREC Research Assistant

External Collaborator

Professor Dimity Pond, University of Newcastle

Relevant Publications

*Hansen EC, Hughes C, Routley G, Robinson A. General Practitioners' experiences and understandings of diagnosing dementia: Factors impacting on early diagnosis. Social Science and Medicine 2008  67(2008):1776-1783.