Memory clinics (MCs) are multidisciplinary teams involved with early diagnosis and treatment of people with dementia. In this presentation, we will discuss several trends of the role of psychiatrists over the last twenty years, on the basis of five questionnaires that were sent to MCs every 5 years in the Netherlands.

MCs have developed in Europe using a range of service models but providing similar functions, which include assessment, information, treatment monitoring, education, training and research. MCs may vary among each other, and across countries. Psychiatrists used to play a coordinating role in most MCs, but there is now a tendency that MCs are more frequently led by other specialists, notably neurologists. In 1998 in the Netherlands, only a small minority of the MCs had a structural cooperation with local service providers, but 10 years later, most of them were collaborating with other regional care organizations. In most cases, the collaborating partner was a community mental health team or a long-term care facility.