The Irish Times - Wednesday, November 18, 2009

Dementia patients worse off after UK hospitals, report finds

MARK HENNESSY, London Editor

PEOPLE WITH dementia, who occupy one in four of all hospital beds in the United Kingdom, stay longer in hospital than other patients and leave in worse condition, according to a major report published yesterday.

Urging hospitals to discharge people with dementia a week earlier than happens now, the UK Alzheimer's Society said current practices are costing the National Health Service hundreds of millions of pounds.

Nearly all British nurses, 97 per cent, care frequently for patients with dementia, yet eight in every 10 have never received any specialist training and most find the work "quite challenging".

Neil Hunt, chief executive of the society, said: "It is shocking that people with dementia are occupying up to a quarter of hospital beds, yet there are scandalous variations in quality of dementia care in hospitals. A million more people will develop dementia in the next 10 years. The National Health Service needs to start taking dementia seriously," he said.

Broadcaster Angela Rippon, whose mother had Alzheimer's before her death, said: 'I know only too well how scary it can be for a person with dementia to go into hospital. It was awful watching my mother so vulnerable and frightened in this strange, noisy environment full of people she did not know.

"Some people with dementia are not able to eat or drink due to a lack of appropriate dementia care and many are not being treated with dignity and respect.

"But good hospitals show us that with the right investment and training, quality dementia care is possible," she said.

Half of all carers surveyed by the society believed that a period in hospital had "a significant negative effect" on the health of a loved one suffering from dementia, and, additionally, worsened their dementia. Three-quarters of all carers were unhappy with the care offered by UK hospitals in such cases.

One-third complained and 38 per cent said they would have liked to have done so but did not.

The difference in the opinions expressed by nurses and family members is striking: 89 per cent of all nurses believed that dementia patients are treated with "dignity and respect".

Just 36 per cent of all carers shared that view.