More than 100 GP practices are using an app to detect the early signs of dementia in older patients.
CantabMobile is a ten-minute assessment that gives health professionals a clear idea of whether a patient should be referred for dementia testing.
The touch-screen test uses symbols rather than words and has a voice over instructions in 20 languages.
More than 100 surgeries have bought CantabMobile and are in the pilot stage, awaiting deployment
Dr Jennifer Barnett, senior scientist at Cambridge Cognition, which developed the app, explained that the Cantab test was developed at Cambridge University 25 years ago.
It was used in academic research and by the pharmaceutical industry for many years, and then turned into a mobile appwhen touch screen devices became more affordable and reliable.
Results are presented to GPs using a simple traffic light system of ‘investigate’, ‘monitor’ or ‘reassure’.
The results can be emailed to medical staff or printed out. Eventually they could be integrated into electronic patient records.
Dr Barnett said the test was particularly useful in reassuring people that they did not have dementia.
This meant they did not have to be sent for further testing, leaving over-stretched specialist testing units to deal with patients with more serious problems.
The technology will be used alongside a new MRI screening technology in a government-funded ‘Brain Health Centre’ pilot, soon to be rolled out in Sussex, which aims to reduce the wait for dementia diagnosis from 18 to three months.