Dementia care revelations about poor standards

The very first National Audit of Dementia discovered ‘low levels of performance’ in hospitals, with poorly trained or even untrained staff struggling to cope and do their jobs. The National Audit of Dementia audit highlights the plights by families of dementia sufferers. It was believed by many of the families that sometimes the Hospital staff only seemed interested in trying to discharge patients to free up bed space. As it is reported that up to 25% of hospital beds are occupied at any given time by Dementia patients, most of whom, are of course elderly.

People with dementia can become agitated, distressed or even aggressive in a hospital because of their environment, care, illness or even injury, or if their dementia simply worsens. Yet apparently only 33% of hospital staff believed they had ample sufficient training to care and manage Dementia patients. The 210 hospital audit was compiled and created by The Royal College of Psychiatrists. Data collection for the second round is anticipated to begin in April 2012 and be completed by September 2012. Hospitals who submit data for the audit will receive a local report with data from their hospitals compared to amalgamated data from all hospitals in February 2013. For those hospitals that participated in the first round, their local reports will also present data from the first round of audit to allow comparison. The national report for the second round of audit will be published in June 2013. For more information, visit any of the following weblinks: http://www.rcpsych.ac.uk/workinpsychiatry/qualityimprovement/nationalclinicalaudits/dementia/nationalauditofdementia.aspx http://dementia.dh.gov.uk/report-of-the-national-audit-of-dementia-care-in-general-hospitals-2011/