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Aim: To evaluate patients’ and carers’ experiences of attending UK memory services. Methods: As part of their enrollment in the Memory Services National Accreditation Programme, memory services sent questionnaires to patients and carers about their experiences of attending the service. Results: A total of 298 carers and 280 individuals with dementia from 21 memory services responded. People were very satisfied with the diagnostic processes and staff courtesy; however, there was a lack of written information across a range of key areas. In general, carers were better informed than patients but lacked information on respite care or how to get a carers’ assessment. Carers were more likely than patients to feel pressurized into making decisions about treatment. Conclusion: This study provides the first profile of the experiences of patients and carers attending memory services. Although in general they were very satisfied with the care received, more needs to be done to improve the provision of information.

Vascular risk factors are involved in the causation of both vascular dementia (VaD) and Alzheimer’s disease (AD), which together account for up to 80% of all dementias. Asymptomatic spontaneous cerebral emboli (SCE) have been shown to predict future risk of cerebrovascular accidents and silent strokes on MRI. Over a period of years, SCE could potentially cause progressive brain damage and dementia. Our research has shown that SCE occur more frequently in both AD and VaD compared with controls without dementia. SCE are associated with depressive symptoms and predict a more rapid progression of dementia. SCE may be a common mechanism of vascular brain damage that explains the AD, VaD and mixtures of the two. SCE may be a potentially treatable target to slow progression and possibly prevent these dementias.