GP clinic

You are an FY2 (junior doctor) doing a rotation in General Practice.

During your morning clinic you receive a call from Deborah Hunt, who is concerned about her father, and wants to speak to a doctor. She tells you that her 74-year old father, Robert, has had problems with his memory for a few months. He often forgets conversations or events in the recent past, although his memory of his youth are as good as ever. He is less caring about his appearance - he sometimes does not put on clean clothes, and forgets to shave. She has been meaning to call the doctor for a while, and finally decided to after seeing him last night.

The night before when she came around to see him, the flat was in a mess, there were dirty plates and spoiled food left out in the kitchen, and dirty clothes on the floor. He was dressed for bed, but she thought he had not got out of them that morning, and had not washed. He had also wet himself a little. He seemed to be more confused than before; at first he thought Deborah was his cleaner, then his wife. She gave him a bath and tidied up, but even when she put him to bed he seemed agitated.

She is going to visit him again tomorrow, but she thinks he has dementia and wondered if there is anything that you can do about it. You quickly pull up Mr Hunt's details on the computer. He has been generally fit and well, only coming to the surgery for his blood pressure, for which he takes bendroflumethiazide.