Health · Healthcare & Policy · 7 hrs ago
Doctor says his mother received little support after her dementia diagnosis
A doctor says his mother was left with little support after a dementia diagnosis at a memory service outside London.
Earlier scans had shown strokes in her brain, and her family later noticed changes in her behaviour and memory.
The service had no doctor of its own, and a nurse called the son for help understanding the scan results.
Nurses carried out assessments, while a consultant visited for only a few hours each week.
Her condition gradually affected her judgment and daily life, including her ability to manage money and use the cooker safely.
Her family eventually had the cooker disconnected after she continued using it despite the risks.
Dr Max Pemberton says his mother received little support after her dementia diagnosis.
A nurse from a memory service called to discuss his mother’s brain scan and said she did not understand the report.
Pemberton says the service had no doctor of its own, and a consultant visited for only a few hours each week.
His mother’s earlier scans showed strokes, and tests found high blood pressure and cholesterol, risk factors for vascular dementia.
Over the following years, her memory, behaviour and ability to manage everyday tasks worsened.
- Who
- Dr Max Pemberton describes his mother’s experience with a local memory service.
- What
- He says she received little support after her dementia diagnosis. A nurse asked him to explain her brain scan results.
- When
- The call about the scan results came 18 months before the article was published. Earlier events began around 15 years before that.
- Where
- At a memory service just outside London.
- Why
- The service had no doctor of its own, and the nurse who called had not been trained to interpret brain imaging.
This story does not have two clearly opposing sides.
A routine eye test found a vision problem, and a scan showed that Pemberton’s mother had had a stroke.
A neurologist asked whether the family had noticed changes in her behaviour.
Her behaviour and ability to manage everyday tasks gradually worsened.
A nurse from the local memory service called about her brain scan results and asked Pemberton to explain the report.
- Service location
- Just outside London
- Staffing
- No doctor of its own; a consultant visited for a few hours each week
- Scan findings
- Strokes in the temporal and frontal lobes
- Risk factors
- High blood pressure and cholesterol
- Call about scan results
- 18 months before publication
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What people are saying
I don’t hold it against the nurse
She was a fantastic mother, incredibly warm, kind and funny.