LAUSR

Background: The Irish National Dementia strategy of 2014 highlighted a number of priority actions including timely diagnosis, timely intervention with integrated services and supports. With this in mind through collaboration with persons with dementia and their carers we identified gaps within our existing services. Following this a key priority action was the development of a memory assessment and support clinic. An essential element of the memory assessment and support clinic is cultivating key partnerships between the acute hospital and community partners to enhance the provision of support and care to persons with dementia and their carers. Methods: Data was collected on all patients referred to the Memory assessment and support (MAS) clinic from November 2015 to November 2016. Results: A total of 181 patients were reviewed in the MAS clinic. The mean age was 76 years. Of these, 140 were new patient assessments. Referral sources were: 38% from GP, 22% from inpatient services, 21% crisis or admission avoidance referrals and 19% from other services such as psychiatry of old age. There were 80 urgent referrals to the clinic. The clinical findings of these urgent referrals included 37 with a new medical diagnosis, 28 with carer crisis, 44 with social crisis, 40 with previous diagnosis of dementia and 59 with a delirium at the time of referral. The outcomes for this cohort were as follows: 16 referred to community liaison or case manager (Dublin only), 8 referred to the Community Intervention Team, 8 for acute hospital admission, 12 for fair deal application, 8 for admission to emergency respite and 70 had a medication change. Conclusions: Our experience in the development and evolution of the integrated MAS clinic highlights the necessity of an organisational culture and ethos change towards a more person centred approach to supporting persons with dementia and their families.