[Quality features of German memory clinics: a cross-sectional study]

Although memory clinics have become an established institution for diagnosing and treating dementia in Germany over the years, little is known about their quality features. Considering the increasing societal relevance of dementia, memory clinics will most likely gain in importance in the future.

Addresses of German memory clinics were obtained by an online search. All institutions were surveyed via questionnaire with items regarding structural characteristics (designation, affiliation, services offered, funding) and quality features (waiting times, disease severity at diagnosis).

The results of the inquiry of all institutions (n=153, response: 48%) show memory clinics as specialised institutions that have a low degree of standardisation, but basically have a high structural quality for diagnostic and therapeutic care.

The development of homogeneous structure and process standards could help to establish memory clinics in regular care and to establish sustainable funding. In order to achieve this, an even more intensive collaboration and consensus building of all German memory clinics would be needed as well as a coordinated representation of interests.