"Disorganised"

I visited Folly Hall Memory Clinic with my mother and was concerned and disappointed with our experience.

The doctor was clearly unprepared, and knew nothing of my mother's condition despite her having had blood tests and having attended hospital for a brain scan and x-ray in preparation for the appointment.

He actually was forced to resort to asking my mother if she had had blood tests or any scan or x-ray when he should not only have known about these preparatory procedures, he should have studied the results and come to initial conclusions that could be hardened during the interview with my mother.

It did not inspire confidence to see him shuffling through his papers looking for results which were not there, then making phone calls trying to find out if they had ever arrived at Folly Hall.

During the interview, he was then forced to generalize about dementia and then made a diagnosis and recommendation for drug treatment for vascular dementia.

He informed us that he would be writing to my mother's GP with his diagnosis and medication recommendations.

We feel very dissatisfied, and also concerned, that a diagnosis could be made in such a way without considering the results of the tests that my mother had undergone.

The tests were ordered to inform a professional decision, and for a diagnosis to be made on generalizations seemed to be unprofessional and, to our minds, potentially unsafe.

In addition to the foregoing, I am surprised that a consultant neurologist specializing in dementia has not been involved in the process in order to assess the physiological condition of my mother.

All-in-all, we are dissatisfied and we left the appointment with more questions than answers and, also, with a determination to seek a second opinion and strike this initial diagnosis from my mother's medical record until such time as we have a diagnosis that we can have faith in.