Dementia patients trapped in hospital by social care failures
Written by News on 22/01/2020
The number of people suffering with dementia who required emergency hospital treatment has risen by 35% in the last five years.
The Alzheimer’s Society has released a new report which shows that in 2017/18, there were 379,000 emergency hospital admissions.
Of those, 40,000 spent more than a month in hospital.
The charity’s Chief Executive, Jeremy Hughes, told Sky News the government must invest in social care properly in order to avoid the high number of unnecessary hospital admissions.
“Firstly we need the funding. At the moment there isn’t the funding for social care. Secondly we need the training, to make sure the people who are looking after vulnerable people, like those with dementia, get the training they need.
He added: “One very simple thing would fix the crisis we have in dementia care – and that is for the government to commit to the proper level of funding for social care that enables people to live with the disease in their own homes, supported by the community around them, with trained people, to give them the care and support they need.”
He went on: “The support [patients] need is care in their own home or care in a care-home and that’s not being provided by the state.
“So people can’t afford to get the care they need. Because we’re not supporting people to stay in their own homes, they’re ending up in hospital beds which costs a lot of money and is not a good place for people with dementia.”
Figures show that more than 50% of people with dementia in England required emergency hospital care in 2017/18.
Dementia care in total costs the UK £34.7bn a year, a figure the Alzheimer’s Society says is set to rise to £94.1bn a year by 2040.
Daphne Havercroft from South Gloucestershire lost her mother Dorothy to dementia in January 2019.
In the final year of her life, Dorothy spent seven months of it in hospital following three separate hospital admissions.
Her daughter believes those stays could have been avoided had she been given a proper social care plan.
Daphne said: “It was diabolical. It was a disgrace. The hospital, the third time my mother was there, with the discharge, we sat down with the doctors, we agreed how she should be discharged so, they listened and took that on board, and that was reflected in the discharge letter, but it wasn’t carried forward by social services.”
The Alzheimer’s Society wants the government to invest an extra £8bn a year in care for those with dementia and wants cross-party talks to begin to plan a strategy for the future.
A government spokesperson told Sky News: “We know that hospital visits can be distressing for people with dementia which is why there should be high-quality care in the community.
“We have given councils an extra £1.5bn next year for children and adult’s social care and are determined to find a long-term solution so that every person is treated with dignity and offered the security they deserve.”
(c) Sky News 2020: Dementia patients trapped in hospital by social care failures
