Rise in people with dementia visiting A&E with 'nowhere else to turn'

Accident and emergency departments in hospitals are seeing a rise in visits from people with dementia, who often require 'unnecessary' short hospital stays, according to new figures.

The Dementia Intelligence Network, part of Public Health England report revealed the rate of emergency admissions to hospital for people with dementia in 2017-2018 was 3,609 per 100,000 population aged 65 years and over, an increase from 3,482 in 2016-2017.

Sally Copley, director of policy, campaigns and partnerships at Alzheimer’s Society, has blamed the increased A&E visits on a lack of high-quality dementia care.

She said: “These often avoidable stays in hospital – even if they’re just overnight – can be incredibly harmful to a person with dementia, as well as draining millions from the NHS. They’re an obvious symptom that there just isn’t enough high-quality dementia care available in local communities.”

In addition, the report showed less people living with dementia were benefitting from care plan reviews and that a lower proportion of people with dementia had their care plan review documented in primary care notes in 2018 when compared with 2017.

Ms Copley said it was “unacceptable that more and more people with dementia are being rushed to A&E because they have nowhere else to turn”. She added: “One million people in the UK will have dementia by 2021 – and these alarming figures prove we are nowhere near ready to meet the challenge.”

The Dementia Intelligence Network launched in June 2014 and its Dementia Profile is regularly updated to share important statistics about dementia amongst healthcare professionals. Other findings from the most recent update include:

• 4.3 people per 100 population aged 65 years and over had a recorded diagnosis of dementia on their GP practice record in 2018

• For people aged under 65 years in England, 3.4 people per 10,000 population had a diagnosis, an increase on the rate for 2017

• Deaths where dementia was mentioned on the death certificate accounted for 903 deaths per 100,000 population aged 65 years and over in England during 2017: this rate increased from 868 in 2016.

One of the main aims of the new long-term plan announced by the government earlier this year is to make health and social care services more ‘joined-up’. However, Ms Copley has said that an improved way of providing dementia care is urgently needed now.

She said: “We need urgent action from the Government in the wake of revelations this week that a postcode lottery of care is continuing.