Dementia patients stranded in hospital

Huge rise in sufferers at A&E Social care ‘close to collapse’

THE social care crisis has resulted in a surge in dementia patients ending up in A&E and being left stranded in hospital for months.

Bosses at the Alzheimer’s Society say NHS figures show the number of people with the condition being admitted to casualty has increased by around a third in five years to 380,000.

It added 40,000 of the sufferers were in hospital for between a month and a year – a rise of 6%.

The charity’s chief executive Jeremy Hughes said: “People with dementia are all too often being dumped in hospital and left for long stays. 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.”

The charity’s review concluded: “After decades of under investment… adult social care is on the brink of collapse.

“Many councils are facing significant funding pressures, with family carers having to pick up more of the support previously provided by care professionals.”

The figures are for England in 2017/18. Experts say the social care crisis has led to patients repeatedly being hospitalised due to preventable falls, infections and dehydration.

The Alzheimer’s Society calculated the extra dementia patients at A&E cost the NHS £280million a year.

The charity is today calling for £8billion a year to be allocated in the spring budget. The Tories halved real terms funding for local councils between 2010/11 and 2017/18.

Ian Hudspeth, chairman of the Local Government Association, said: “Every pound invested in council-run services such as social care helps to relieve pressure on other essential services like the NHS, keeping people out of hospital.”

A Government spokesman said: “We have given councils an extra £1.5billion next year for children and adults’ social care and are determined to find a longterm solution so that every person is treated with dignity and offered the security they deserve.”