Care failings put 55,000 dementia patients in A&E last year

ALMOST 55,000 dementia patients were urgently admitted to hospital last year over care failings, a charity has revealed.

They were suffering from entirely preventable conditions including dehydration, untreated infections and falls.

This number has increased by 70 per cent in five years and is a result of the ‘threadbare’ social care system, according to the Alzheimer’s Society.

Chief executive Jeremy Hughes said patients were ‘starved’ of care they need and enduring ‘crippling costs’. The charity says the crisis has come about as dementia patients rely heavily on care, which is severely rationed in England.

The Alzheimer’s Society sent Freedom of Information requests to every hospital asking how many over-65s with dementia had been admitted to A&E for avoidable reasons.

These specifically included urinary tract infections, falls, dehydration and chest infections. Among the 65 NHS trusts that replied, there were 54,731 avoidable admissions in 2016/17 – up from 31,609 in 2011/12.

But the true number is likely to be well over 100,000 admissions as there are 160 hospital trusts in England.

A Department of Health spokesman said: ‘No-one with dementia should have to go into hospital unnecessarily and we’re determined to continue drive up standards of care.’