A new plan calls for closer collaboration between dementia services in Stoke-on-Trent – amid reports of seven month waits for treatment.

Stoke-on-Trent City Council has produced an action plan for improving dementia care in the Potteries after a scrutiny committee review last year highlighted gaps in current provision.

Recommendations in the plan include encouraging GPs to refer dementia patients to services at Dougie Mac and the creation of a 'one-stop shop' support hub at Marrow House in Meir Hay.

Members of the city council's adult social care overview and scrutiny committee formally backed the action plan at a meeting on Thursday.

They said that while Stoke-on-Trent has some excellent services for dementia patients, such as Marrow House, a lack of joined-up provision means some people are not getting the timely support they need.

Stoke-on-Trent is one of the best places in the country at identifying dementia among residents, with an estimated diagnosis rate of around 90 per cent.

But committee member Daniela Santoro, who works for Disability Solutions, said that she knew of patients with dementia waiting up to seven months for treatment.

Cllr Santoro said: "I understand that there's a 90 per cent diagnosis rate but that's of little value if people are waiting seven months for that diagnosis. That's seven months without treatment.

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"The families of these people, who know they've got Alzheimer's or dementia, are literally languishing. It's seven months without medication. That can be catastrophic for someone with dementia, just because they're waiting to see someone at the memory clinic for five minutes."

Outgoing strategic director Peter Tomlin told the committee that an integrated model for dementia care would reduce delays, and that the action plan would support the move towards this.

He said: "At the moment, if you're a GP you can't access Marrow House, because it's a social care service. If you're in social care you can't access the memory clinic because that's the health service. And Dougie Mac have a self-referral system. So you end up with these parallel lines and all of them take too long.

"Our aim therefore is to develop an integrated model, identifying what process you should follow whether that be Dougie Mac, the Alzheimer's Society, Marrow House or the memory clinic. At the moment all of those have their own pathways, and that's where you get delays."

Councillor Chandra Kanneganti, who works as a GP, suggested that commissioning more services at a local level, utilising the expertise of some family doctors, could 'drastically reduce' waiting times for dementia patients. Cllr Kanneganti also believes the referral system for dementia patients needs to improve.

He said: "The referral pathway is confusing. Nobody is clear about the different pathways. If a patient of mine is in crisis at home and his wife is unable to cope, I want to know how the reference system works. I think it should be more explicit."

Ian Clarke, interim director of adult social care, acknowledged that the pathways could be improved, and said that 'timely referrals' would be a key part of the early intervention model being adopted.

Mr Clarke told the committee that the action plan's recommendations are now being implemented.

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He said: "One in three of us will become a carer for someone with dementia at some point, so it's a really vital area of the service that we need to develop and improve so we can support people effectively.

"We've made some progress against the recommendations already, and I think there's a real willingness across partners to develop services. A lot of work will be done over the next 12 months that will really benefit people.

"Referrals from GPs is one of our main areas for improvement. The awareness of the preventative services locally needs to improve."

Other recommendations in the plan include the provision of an advocacy service for people living with dementia, and for social prescribers to provide follow-up contact after a diagnosis for dementia.