Exploring clinicians’ perspective of a multi-professional dementia diagnostic pathway in a memory and later life service

Accurate dementia diagnosis is challenging due to overlapping symptoms and the heterogeneity of subtypes and presentations. Multidisciplinary Team (MDT) approaches to diagnosis are proposed to enhance accuracy, timeliness and clinician confidence compared to single-clinician models. This service evaluation explored clinicians’ experiences of a virtual MDT diagnostic clinic in the North Cumbria memory service. An online questionnaire was completed by 10 clinicians participating in both the virtual MDT and single-clinician diagnostic pathways. Quantitative findings indicated MDT discussions modestly increased clinician’s comfort in case discussions, with half perceiving them as timelier compared with a single clinician. Content analysis identified concepts indicating the MDT approach was perceived as efficient, drew on specialist expertise, and supported improved patient outcomes. However, some clinicians reported anxiety about presenting their findings. Overall, clinicians valued the MDT format, perceiving it as collaborative, educational and supportive of shared decision-making. Adaptions to increase clinician confidence in presenting to the MDT could strengthen its acceptability and effectiveness.