Service : Neuropsychology Service

Our Neuropsychology Service aims to support people with neurological conditions who have difficulties with their memory and thinking skills (i.e. cognition). We work with a wide range of neurological conditions such as stroke, traumatic brain injury, epilepsy, multiple sclerosis (MS), and dementia.

If you're experiencing challenges like poor memory, difficulty concentrating, or problems with communication, we can provide tailored advice and guidance to help you manage your symptoms and explore treatment options.

For some of our patients, our role is to help identify why they are having difficulties with their cognition and to identify if this is the result of a neurological condition (e.g. dementia). Other patients may already have a diagnosed neurological condition, and our role is to help them gain a better understanding of its impact on their cognition, with the goal of developing strategies to minimise its disruption on their day-to-day life.

If you're of retirement age and feel that there has been a decline in your memory, it may be faster for you to be seen through the Memory Clinic. A referral can be arranged through your GP.

To access our service, you’ll need a referral from your GP or healthcare professional.

We’re not able to accept self-referrals at the moment, but your GP will be happy to help get you started.

Referrals to our service can be made through your GP, as long as your GP practice is based within Berkshire. We also accept referrals from allied health professionals who work for Berkshire Healthcare. We also accept referrals from the medical team at the Department of Neurology and Neurorehabilitation Medicine (Royal Berkshire Hospital).

To be accepted by our service, you should be:

• Aged 18 or over
• Living with a neurological condition, or suspected of having a neurological condition
• Experiencing cognitive difficulties that impact your life

We don't currently accept referrals for patients with an existing diagnosis of Functional Neurological Disorder (FND). We also don't accept referrals for patients with neurodiversity where their cognitive difficulties are believed to be because of this diagnosis.

Once we've received your referral, you'll be notified by post whether you've been accepted onto our waiting list. Most patients are seen within 6 months of their referral being approved.

If you're a healthcare professional and would like to refer your patient to our service, please complete our referral form and send it alongside a cover letter to neuropsychology@berkshire.nhs.uk 

Before the assessment

If we accept your referral, we’ll contact you to arrange your appointment.

If you've been referred to our service, please take the time to read our leaflet on what to expect at your appointment.

Appointments usually take around three hours. Please make sure you leave plenty of time to complete your appointment.

You’re welcome to come to your appointment on your own, but bringing a relative or someone who lives with you may help us understand the challenges you’re having. They can share what they have noticed and may be able to help you remember any details you may have forgotten.

At the assessment

We’ll talk with you about the problems you might be having with your memory, how you communicate and your thinking skills. They'll also ask you some questions about your wider medical and social history. It can be helpful to bring along a list of any medications you are taking. 

Following the clinical interview, you will be asked to complete a number of ‘pencil & paper’ and computerised tasks that are designed to get a better understanding of your current level of cognitive functioning. Your performance on these tasks will be compared against other people of your age and educational background. This allows us to determine whether you are having more difficulties than we might expect.

It's important that you bring any reading glasses or hearing aids you may use. This is to make sure that these visual / hearing difficulties don’t affect your performance on our tests. Failure to bring these may mean that we are not able to complete the assessment. 

After the assessment

Based on our assessment, we’ll give you recommendations about your recovery, which may include coping techniques.

We may also guide you to other services that we think can help you. This could include support groups and charities working with brain injury and neurological conditions.

At the end of your appointment, your clinician will aim to provide you with some brief feedback. However, more detailed feedback will be available once your clinician has had the opportunity to score your assessment. For most of our patients, this feedback will be provided through a written report that is also sent to your referrer and GP. For some of our patients, we will suggest that we provide direct feedback, either face-to-face or over the telephone.

In addition to support through the NHS, many of our patients also find it helpful to make contact with some of the following charitable organisations. They can provide both practical and emotional support to those living with neurological conditions.

Headway

Headway work with adults of all ages helping them live with brain injury.

• Visit Headway website

Parkinson's UK

Use collective strength to get you better support, better treatments, and better health and care. Find out more by visiting Parkinson's UK website. 

• Visit Parkinson's UK

Multiple sclerosis (MS) Society

No matter how MS affects you, MS Society can support you every step of the way. 

• Visit MS Society

Carers UK

Provides information and advice on caring and helps carers connect with each other.

• Visit Carers UK website

Dementia UK

The specialist dementia nursing charity that is there for the whole family.

• Visit Dementia UK website

Epilepsy Action

Learn how Epilepsy Action can support you, with every day tasks and view their resources. 

• Visit Epilepsy Action website