Why was I referred?
Patients referred to our service are those under the care of a neurologist or neurosurgeon for a suspected or known neurological condition.
Thinking and memory difficulties can be a symptom of some neurological conditions.
If you have been referred to our service its possible you have been experiencing some difficulties in your thinking and memory, and your consultant wants to understand these more.
Similarly, sometimes patients are referred for a baseline to enable us to monitor these symptoms over time.
What is the assessment for?
Our assessment is to help identify any areas of difficulty with thinking, reasoning or memory.
We can also sometimes advise whether these would be consistent with any suspected or known condition.
Our assessments alone, however, are not diagnostic. They rather form part of one of many assessments that your neurologist or neurosurgeon may request. For example, other investigations might include brain scans or blood tests.
In addition, our assessments can help monitor these symptoms over time, as well as understanding the impacts of any intervention.
For example, we can complete our assessments before and after any treatment.
What does the assessment involve?
The assessment is usually conducted over one or two 2 appointments, each between one or two hours.
The clinician will spend time gaining information about your medical history and how things are for you right now.
They will ask about lots of different areas and it’s not expected you will be having difficulties in all these areas.
As part of our assessment, we will invite you to complete some tests.
These are designed to measure skills that are used on a day-to-day basis including:
- Language
- Visual and spatial
- Attention
- Processing speed
- Problem solving
- Memory
The tasks may involve drawing, remembering information and solving puzzles or problems.
These tests help us to see if there are any areas of thinking or memory that you are having difficulty with. To do this we need to understand where you would be expected to perform on these tests when in good general health.
If this is your first assessment we will make an estimate of how you should perform based on information you share with us.
This includes information about your educational and occupational history, as well as through your performance on tasks like reading as this can provide a general indicator of people’s overall ability levels.
These are not exact and only ever used as a guide. We take into account your individual circumstances. For example, some people might find their strengths are in practical or visual things, whereas others might be good at verbal tasks.
If it is a repeat assessment, we can use your first performance as baseline.
Do I need to bring anything with me?
If you wear glasses or hearing aids, please bring these with you.
Due to the length of assessments, you may wish to bring medication to take if necessary and refreshments.
Can somebody attend with me?
It can be very helpful to bring someone who knows you well with you to the first appointment.
Particularly, they may also have observed any difficulties you have been experiencing and provide information about these.
You will be asked about your medical history, as well as your current emotional and mental health. If there is anything you would prefer to discuss alone please make the clinician aware.
We would recommend the person accompanying you leaves while you undertake the formal tests. The person is unable to support with these tasks, and people tend to feel most comfortable without someone watching.
What will happen when I have completed the assessment?
Your clinician will spend some time explaining your results. They will explain where you are performing well which is in line with expectations. They will also explain areas where you performed below expectations that might be suggestive of areas of difficulty.
In some cases, they may be able to advise whether the pattern of difficulties fits with a known or suspected condition.
The clinician will also provide advice regarding ways of managing any areas of difficulty. This may include use of strategies.
Can I find out more or ask questions before I attend?
Yes, if you have any further questions please contact our department on 01642 854123. A member of our secretary team will take your details and request a clinician contact you.