Commentary on: a comparison of dementia assessment service provision across three English county intellectual disability services

The purpose of this paper is to consider the issue of types of assessment offered by services for people with learning disabilities from the research study “A Comparison of Dementia Assessment Services for People with Intellectual Disabilities”.

The commentary is based on a review of the associated literature.

Assessment for possible dementia is a complex activity. The gold standard is to ensure that the assessment process is comprehensive including both direct assessments with the person and gathering information from key informants. The issues in not adopting this methodology are considered, as are issues in what services and assessments are called.

The commentary considers the studies presented from a practitioner perspective.