Dementia Assessment Wait Times in Denmark Exceed Legal Limit Fivefold

If your elderly relatives in Denmark need a dementia assessment, expect long delays.

The average national waiting time is now 165 days.

This is more than five times the legal limit of 30 days.

The Danish Public Accounts Committee sharply criticized regional healthcare authorities for these severe delays.

Danish law states that doctors must assess patients within 30 days.

However, 84 percent of patients wait much longer than the legal target.

Over the past four years, nearly 25,000 people waited over 30 days.

The findings come from a report by Denmark's National Audit Office.

Waiting times vary significantly depending on where you live in Denmark.

In the Region of Southern Denmark, the average wait was 133 days.

In Region Zealand, patients waited an average of 244 days.

Quality of care also varies across different regions.

A patient's social background also affects how quickly they receive care.

Patients with higher education and financial stability were assessed 24 days faster.

Patients with low income, debt, or no close family faced longer waits.

The committee called for an official investigation into these social gaps.

Danish Regions chairman Mads Duedahl acknowledged that the sharp criticism was fully justified.

He stated that long waiting times place a heavy burden on families.

Regional authorities are now looking at ways to expand diagnostic capacity.

One proposal would allow general practitioners to conduct more dementia assessments directly.

The government also plans to allocate 680 million DKK to improve national dementia care.