"A friend’s diagnosis and follow-up for mixed dementia"

After a referral from her GP, a home visit was arranged for a memory test and diagnosis for my friend. Dr Croft-Baker came to the house and I was there to support my friend who lives alone and has no immediate family living close by.

Dr Croft-Baker (Dr C B) was very friendly, kind and sympathetic as she led my friend through her history and then did a memory test. Dr C B listened to my views and additional information and accepted what I said. I felt respected, listened to and confident that I was being included in the discussions and information gathering.

Dr C B treated my friend carefully and thoughtfully and explained what she thought the diagnosis was and what the next steps would be. She gave my friend time to absorb that and to ask any questions before she left.

I was kept informed of the next steps and it was agreed that I would be the contact for appointments and information sharing.

Dr CB rang me to let me know that my friend has dementia but needed a brain scan at Southampton Nuclear Medicine. We also discussed the way forward and agreed that it would be helpful for the Community team to contact me and arrange a visit to monitor, support and assist my friend accepting her diagnosis. I was pleased and happy to be involved in the management of my friend’s care and felt confident that our needs were accepted.

Billy contacted me to make an appointment to visit with my friend. First impressions were that he was friendly, helpful and kind. This has been the case throughout my meetings with him.

When Shannon and Billy visited, Shannon took the lead asking my friend about her background and how she was coping with her diagnosis. She put us both at ease and was very sympathetic and asked if my friend would like to hear the results of the scan. She did, so Shannon carefully and slowly explained, giving my friend and I the time to absorb the new information. As well as taking great care to put my friend at ease, they also recognised me and my needs as a carer. I felt relieved and supported that my stress was recognised. I was given lots of useful information and was referred to support for my needs. They are very professional and knowledgeable while also being very friendly and caring.

On their return visit they checked that I had been contacted by the support group and that I was ok. Shannon had contacted my friend’s brother to involve him in his sister’s care so he joined us for their next visit. He was involved in the discussion and helped my friend make difficult decisions. Both Shannon and Billy handled the situation calmly and listened to all points of view. They are very knowledgeable, very professional and kind. They suggest a variety of helpful sources of information and work hard to achieve a good solution for all parties involved.

I feel confident that they have everyone’s’ best interests at heart and will do their best to achieve that. I know that I can phone them and they will listen and do their best to help me with advice or signposting the way to information sources. So I feel supported and recognised for my part in caring and happy to have had contact with them. Thank you very much.