People with dementia are spending longer in hospital than
others admitted with the same medical condition and leaving wards
in a worse state than when they went in, the Alzheimer's Society
said today.
A report by the charity called for patients with dementia to be
discharged a week earlier on average than they currently, saving
£80m which could be reinvested in social care and community health
services for people with dementia across the UK.
The study was based on a survey of almost 1,300 carers of people
with dementia, more than 650 nurses and almost 500 nurse/ward
managers.
Longer stays
Eighty-six per cent of the managers polled said people with
dementia always or sometimes spent longer in hospital than others
admitted with the same medical condition, while 49% of carers said
stays in hospital had been longer than they expected.
Almost half (47%) of carers said being in hospital had had a
significant negative effect on dementia patients’ physical health,
which was not directly related to the condition they were admitted
for, while 54% said dementia symptoms had become worse.
This was despite up to a quarter of beds in hospitals being
taken up by people with dementia.
The report also said that 36% of people with dementia who went
into hospital from their own homes were discharged into a care
home.
Big savings
Chief executive of the Alzheimer’s Society Neil Hunt said: “At
least £80 million a year and probably hundreds of millions could be
saved if people with dementia are enabled to leave hospital one
week earlier. Hospitals must commit to reducing the length of stay
if we are to stop people with dementia deteriorating in
hospital.”
Head of policy at the United Kingdom Homecare Association Colin
Angel said that the report highlighted the need for the NHS to fund
social care provision, which would generate savings for acute
hospitals.
He said: “We encourage commissioners of health services to
invest in specialist local rapid discharge services where savings
to health are passed to social care allowing providers to invest in
staff training for the specific needs of people with dementia.”
Delayed discharge
The report said that half of people experiencing a delayed
discharge had dementia. Carers identified a lack of discharge
support while nurses said finding appropriate care packages or
older person’s mental health service placements were key
difficulties in discharging dementia patients.
The report also identified problems with staff training with 54%
of nurses saying they had not received any pre-registration
training in the illness. Of particular concern to carers was a lack
of help with eating and drinking which was often linked to
deterioration in patients’ physical health.
The report also found use of antipsychotic drugs was
significant with 77% of nurses and nursing managers saying they
were used at least sometimes to treat those in hospital, with a
quarter of this group saying they were prescribed
inappropriately.
The finding comes days after a
damning government-commissioned review into the
use of antipsychotics for people with dementia, which found
1,800 people were dying each year across the UK as a result of
prescriptions.
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