Determining local service levels for a memory assessment service for the early identification and care of people with dementia
Benchmarks for a standard population
Available data suggest that the indicative benchmark rate for new referrals into a memory assessment service is 0.19%, or 190 per 100,000 population, per year.
For a standard primary care trust population of 250,000, the average number of people requiring referral to a memory assessment service would be 475 per year.
For an average practice with a list size of 10,000, the average number of people requiring referral to a memory assessment service would be 19 per year.
This represents a minimum expected rate of referral, because a large proportion of people who develop dementia are currently likely to remain undiagnosed, or will not have their condition diagnosed until the disease has progressed[1]. Therefore commissioners need to consider planning for increased activity to reflect current unmet needs of their population.
This service is likely to fall under programme budgeting category 205B (mental health disorders - organic mental disorders).
Examine the assumptions used in estimating these figures.
Use the memory assessment service commissioning and benchmarking tool to determine the level of service that might be needed locally and to calculate the cost of commissioning the service using the indicative benchmark and/or your own local data.
Further information
Sources of further information to help you in assessing local health needs and reducing health inequalities include:
- Annex A of the ‘Commissioning framework for health and well-being' outlines the process and data needed to undertake a joint strategic needs assessment.
- Department of Health ‘Delivering quality and value - focus on benchmarking'.
- NICE ‘Health equity audit - learning from practice briefing'.
- The ‘No delays achiever' provides access to service improvement tools aimed at reducing time between referral and treatment.
- The ‘Practice-based commissioning comparators reporting service' provides access to a range of indicators and activity data at practice level, enabling a better understanding of local commissioning activity, referral patterns and outcomes.
- The ‘Disease management information toolkit (DMIT)' is a good-practice tool for decision-makers, commissioners and deliverers of care for people with long-term conditions, which presents data on conditions that contribute to high numbers of emergency bed days. It models the effects of possible interventions that may be commissioned at a local level and helps users to consider the likely impact of commissioning options.
- PRIMIS+ provides support to general practices on information management, recording for, and analysis of, data quality, plus a comparative analysis service focused on key clinical topics.
References
1. Wilkinson D, Sganga A, Stave C et al. (2005) Implications of the Facing Dementia Survey for health care professionals across Europe. International Journal of Clinical Practice 59: 27-31.
This page was last updated: 19 March 2010
- Memory assessment service
- Commissioning a memory assessment service for the early identification and care of people with dementia
- Specifying a memory assessment service for the early identification and care of people with dementia
- Determining local service levels for a memory assessment service for the early identification and care of people with dementia
- Assumptions used in estimating a population benchmark
- The commissioning and benchmarking tool
- Ensuring corporate and quality assurance
