North Warwickshire and Bedworth’s voice in Parliament Craig Tracey has signed up to support the launch of Alzheimer’s Society’s new campaign; Fix Dementia Care, calling for improvements in hospital care for people living with dementia.
Craig, who is originally from the North East, was joined by Auf Wiedersehen Pet and Morse actor Kevin Whately, a supporter of Alzheimer’s Society.
Our local MP said: “I was contacted by a number of residents who asked me to attend the Fix Dementia Care campaign launch; an issue which is important to many people.
“Alzheimer’s Society are aiming to end the postcode lottery on the quality of hospital care people with dementia face. Their investigation has shown that too many people with dementia are falling while in hospital, being discharged at night or being left in hospital despite their medical treatment having finished. The first step to improving the issue across the country is greater transparency – we need to understand the facts in able to be order to solve the problems being reported. It was also a pleasure to meet Kevin Whately who is fully behind the campaign.”
Freedom of Information requests (FOIs) carried out by the charity found that in 2014-15:
•28% of people over the age of 65 who fell in hospital had dementia - but this was as high as 71% in the worst performing hospital trust
•In 68 trusts that responded to this FOI (41%), 4,926 people with dementia were discharged between the hours of 11pm and 6am
•In the worst performing hospitals, people with dementia were found to be staying five to seven times longer than other patients over the age of 65
George McNamara, Head of Policy and Public Affairs at Alzheimer’s Society said: “We must put a stop to the culture where it’s easier to find out about your local hospital finances than the quality of care you’ll receive if you have dementia. We are encouraging everyone to get behind our campaign to improve transparency and raise the bar on quality.”
“Poor care can have devastating, life-changing consequences. Becoming malnourished because you can’t communicate to hospital staff that you are hungry, or falling and breaking a hip because you’re confused and no-one’s around to help, can affect whether you stand any chance of returning to your own home or not.
“We are delighted to have been able to engage over 160 MPs in one day.”
The campaign is making the following recommendations to fix dementia care:
•All hospitals to publish an annual statement of dementia care, which includes feedback from patients with dementia, helping to raise standards of care across the country
•The regulators, Monitor and the Care Quality Commission to include standards of dementia care in their assessments
Alzheimer’s Society is calling on people to back the Fix Dementia Care campaign by signing up at www.alzheimers.org.uk/fixhospitalcare