TIMeLi: Towards Improving diagnosis of Memory Loss in general practice
Research type
Research Study
Full title
TIMeLi: Towards Improving diagnosis of Memory Loss in general practice
IRAS ID
143065
Contact name
Sam Creavin
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
University of Bristol
Duration of Study in the UK
1 years, 6 months, 10 days
Research summary
Making a diagnosis of dementia is something that general practitioners (GPs) find challenging, but are increasingly being asked to do, because of changes in policy from government and local clinical commissioning groups (CCGs). Getting the diagnosis right is important, because dementia is a serious and incurable illness; being correctly identified as having the problem facilitates access to help and drugs, whereas being incorrectly told that you are affected is emotionally traumatic.
We want to find out whether it is possible for a GP to diagnose dementia, in some people, without referring to a specialist, and if so, what the best questions and tests are. We also want to establish how much extra information blood tests and scans add to the doctor’s judgement. If we can find a short combination of tests and scans that are as good, or very nearly as good, as seeing a specialist then GPs would only need to refer cases where they weren’t sure, or where there were complicating factors (e.g. young patient, or quickly changing symptoms).
We will invite people who have seen their GP about possible dementia to attend a dementia research clinic with a carer. If the GP feels they are suitable to take part, and the patient is interested, we would contact them to discuss the study further. The patient and carer would then attend the research clinic and see two doctors over a period of 2.5 hours. One doctor will be a specialist and the other will do a series of quick tests that a GP could realistically fit into a 10-minute consultation. We can then see how good those quick tests are compared to the specialist assessment. Patients will then see their GP a few weeks later, when all the tests are back, to get the final diagnosis.REC name
London - Bromley Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
14/LO/2025
Date of REC Opinion
26 Nov 2014
REC opinion
Favourable Opinion