12.07.13
Dementia patients ‘failed’ by hospital care
Many best practice standards remain unmet for dementia patients, the latest National Dementia Audit shows.
Commissioned by the Healthcare Quality Improvement Partnership (HQIP), the audit found less than half of the 7,087 patients surveyed were assessed for their mental state or delirium.
There has been a 10% drop in patients prescribed antipsychotic drugs for dementia, and patients are now more likely to have their nutritional needs assessed.
However, 41% of hospitals don’t provide training in dementia care for new staff, 40% do not train support staff and 11% do not train nurses.
Norman Lamb, the care and support minister, said: “Whilst there are some excellent examples of dementia care in hospitals, this report highlights too many areas where care for patients has failed.”
George McNamara, head of policy at the Alzheimer's Society, said: “Hospitals are under immense public and political pressure to improve their standards, but given that people with dementia occupy a quarter of hospital beds, it is scandalous that improving dementia care is not a top priority for a number of hospital managers.
“We know that staff want to improve their knowledge of dementia care, but they need to be offered the right tools, support and training to do so. Without a serious culture change to ensure that new policies are actually being put into everyday practice, care for people with dementia cannot and will not improve.”
Dr Peter Carter, chief executive & general secretary of the RCN, said: “While it is pleasing to see an improvement in dementia care this report demonstrates that there is still some way to go to ensure patients with dementia receive the really specialist care they deserve.
“This report makes it clear that more needs to be done to improve training and dementia awareness, and it is important that all hospital staff are trained to an adequate level. However, training and awareness alone are not enough and we fully support the recommendation in this report that specialist dementia nurses should be employed in all hospitals.
“We must not deny our most vulnerable patients these improvements in care, and dementia specialist nurses should be a top priority.”
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