High numbers of people with dementia admitted to hospital due to poor community support

A recent report from the Alzheimer’s Society highlighted the huge numbers of people living with dementia who are being admitted as emergencies to hospital, because ‘there's no social care support to keep them safe at home.’

The BBC note that the report, analysing emergency admissions hospital data over a six year period, ending 2017-18, one in 10 people with dementia had stays of up to a month or more once admitted.

Alzheimer’s Society reported 379,000 cases where dementia had been recorded on admission and note that this is likely an underestimate as the condition is not always coded. Even so, the numbers are on the rise, with 100,000 more admissions found since 2012-13. The charity believe that around a quarter of patients in hospital at any given time will be living with dementia.

Infographic taken from ‘Dementia - the true cost: fixing the care crisis’ Alzheimer’s Society 2018

Chief executive Jeremy Hughes noted that
"People with dementia are all too often being dumped in hospital and left there. Many are only admitted because there's no social care support to keep them safe at home.

"They are commonly spending more than twice as long in hospital as needed, confused and scared."

In response to the report, a Department of Health and Social Care spokeswoman said a long-term solution would be found to ensure dementia patients were treated with "dignity".

"We know that hospital visits can be distressing for people with dementia which is why there should be high-quality care in the community," she added.

Alzheimer’s Society released a report, ‘Dementia - the true cost: fixing the care crisis’ in May 2018, examining the same pool of data and highlighting in detail the true cost of dementia and the interventions needed to address the ‘rising admissions to A&E for people with dementia due to ‘threadbare’ social care system’.

It is unclear whether additional analysis has brought further data to light, or whether it has taken almost two years for this information to gain national coverage and the attention of the Department of Health and Social Care.

Infographic taken from ‘Dementia - the true cost: fixing the care crisis’ Alzheimer’s Society 2018

To find out more, visit Alzheimer’s Society’s website, read the report, ‘Dementia - the true cost: fixing the care crisis’ (released May 2018) or see the BBC’s coverage online.

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