This resource pack published by NHS England aims to support GPs to identify and appropriately manage dementia patients in the primary care environment.

Download Dementia diagnosis and management: A brief pragmatic resource for general practitioners

‘Dementia revealed – what primary care needs to know’ (the Dementia Primer) is an overview of dementia management. If that document is “What to do?” then this resource pack is “How to do it?” The Dementia Primer has been summarised in this resource pack to provide a quick overview of the key points. The resource pack includes an “Ask the expert’ section in which practical questions are posed to Professor Alistair Burns (National Clinical Director for Dementia, NHS England). These are then supported by descriptions of some clinical case scenarios.

After reading and reflecting on this resource pack GPs should be able to:

• describe the key features of dementia and explain which patients particularly merit referral to the specialist service
• describe the role of cognitive testing in the diagnosis and management of dementia and produce a plan for their own practice which incorporates appropriate tools
• explain how and when anti-dementia treatments in primary care are safe to be introduced, and
• create a strategy for themselves and their practice to improve the detection and management of dementia.