Variable Standards of Hospital Dementia Care in England (BBC News / Alzheimer’s Society)

Summary

The Alzheimer’s Society may have found further evidence of poor and variable care in a review of acute hospital care for dementia patients. Their report is based on Freedom of Information (FOI) requests, to which not all Trusts were in a position to respond; so the data could be skewed in either direction overall. It is the variation in care quality that is the main focus.

Problems detected include the prevalence of falls, night-time discharges, length of stay (delayed discharges), rates of hospital re-admissions, and anecdotal reports of “patients being treated with excessive force, not being given enough help with meals and drinks, and being left in wet or soiled sheets”.

Full Text Link

Reference

Triggle, N. (2016). Dementia patients face ‘Russian roulette’ in hospital. London: BBC Health News, January 18^th 2016.

This relates to:

Full Text Link

Reference

Shocking variation of hospital care for people with dementia exposed. London [Online]: Alzheimer’s Society, January 18^th 2016.

“With a quarter of hospital beds occupied by people with dementia, an estimated £264.2 million of public money is being wasted on poor dementia care (2013/14)”.

See further:

Full Text Link

Reference

Fix Dementia Care: the statistics. London [Online]: Alzheimer’s Society, January 18^th 2016.

The Alzheimer’s Society’s “Fix Dementia Care” campaign:

Full Text Link

Reference

Fix Dementia Care. London: Alzheimer’s Society, January 18^th 2016.

The “Fix Dementia Care: Hospitals” Report

The full report is available here:

Full Text Link

Reference

Boaden, A. (2016). Fix Dementia Care: Hospitals. London: Alzheimer’s Society, January 15^th 2016.

A related BBC News video:

Full Text / Video Link

Reference

Brimelow, A. (2016). Dementia patients play ‘Russian roulette’. London: BBC Health News, January 18^th 2016.