Measure 4.5. Reduction in the average time taken for people to receive a diagnosis of dementia from the onset of first symptoms
A key goal of the Action Plan is improving timely diagnosis of dementia. The time it takes to receive a diagnosis from the onset of symptoms is influenced by many factors. Some are related to the person with dementia and their family, such as the ability to recognise early symptoms of dementia and willingness to be assessed. Long wait times and delays to access dementia diagnostic services mean it can take a long time to obtain a diagnosis.
There are no national data on the timely diagnosis of dementia. Some data are available from the Australian Dementia Network (ADNeT) Registry that provide insights on people newly diagnosed with dementia or mild cognitive impairment (MCI) by specialist diagnostic services that have volunteered to participate in the Registry.
However, better data are needed, especially on dementia diagnoses by GPs and other specialists outside of specialist diagnostic centres. Specialist diagnostic centres are less common in regional and remote areas, and many people are diagnosed through other services or do not receive a diagnosis at all.
Data development is underway, with ongoing work to improve the availability of national data to report on diagnostic and post-diagnostic care. Data from the recently conducted Living with Dementia Survey may be added to reporting when they become available.
Initial appointment with diagnostic services within 1 year of symptom onset
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Indicator
Proportion of people with dementia participating in the Australian Dementia (ADNeT) Registry who had an initial appointment with diagnostic services within 1 year of symptom onset.
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Baseline value
11% of participants in 2024
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Latest value
Baseline value only
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Progress
To be provided in future updates
The desired outcome is for more people to receive a timely access to diagnostic services, and so this indicator should increase over time.
Change over time
Future updates of this report will track changes over time for this indicator.
In 2024, 11% of participants with dementia had their initial appointment within 1 year of symptom onset and 30% had their initial appointment more than 3 years from symptom onset (Figure 4.5).
There were no notable differences in the proportion of people with dementia who had an initial appointment with diagnostic services within 1 year of symptom onset by sex, age group, remoteness, or region of birth (English-speaking or non-English speaking).
Figure 4.5: Time from symptom onset to initial appointment with diagnostic services, ADNeT Registry participants with dementia, 2024
Column chart shows most participants had their initial appointment one or more years after symptom onset.
The ADNeT Registry is a clinical quality registry for people newly diagnosed with dementia or mild cognitive impairment (MCI). The ADNeT Registry has expanded in July 2025 to collect post-market surveillance data on disease-modifying therapies that are approved in Australia for people living with dementia or MCI.
This indicator only includes data from people who were diagnosed with dementia (but not MCI) at an ADNeT-registered service. As such, ADNeT Registry data may not be representative of all people being diagnosed with dementia in specialist diagnostic services across Australia.
Data for population groups are reported for this most recent year of data only and where data quality allows. The published population group data describe only ADNeT Registry participants diagnosed with dementia with known sex, age, remoteness or region of birth.
National data on specialist diagnostic services are needed to complement ADNeT Registry data and fully understand the national impact of the Action Plan.
For more detailed data, including the counts used to calculate proportions, see the Supplementary data tables.
For more information, see the Technical notes.