‘Worrying’ increase in A&E visits for dementia sufferers
THERE HAS been a “worrying” increase in the reliance on emergency care for dementia patients nearing the end of their lives, experts have warned.
Researchers have called for better support in the community for dementia sufferers after a new study found that patients are increasingly relying on emergency care as they near death.
They warned that emergency department visits can be “distressing” for patients and are considered preventable in a high number of cases. And emergency department use towards the end of life may indicate inadequate availability of community care, according to the authors of a new study published in the journal
Experts from King’s College London conducted a study examining electronic medical records from a large mental health care provider in London. They examined data on 4,867 dementia patients who had died between 2008/9 and 2012/13 with a mean age of 85. During their last year of life, these patients attended A&E 10,361 times – with 79 per cent of patients having attended at least once. Researchers found that the frequency of attendance at A&E increased as participants drew closer to death, with 44 per cent of the participants attending at least once during their last month of life.
These attendances were more likely to be emergency referrals, by ambulance or out of hours, which suggests these visits were “unplanned and precipitated by an acute crisis”, the authors added.
The average number of A&E attendances per patient during the last year of life increased over the time from 1.6 visits in 2008/9 to 2.4 visits in 2012/13.
Lead author Dr Katherine Sleeman from the Cicely Saunders Institute at King’s College London, said: “In light of the current pressures on the health service, our ageing population and the associated increase in deaths from dementia, there is an urgent need to look at ways we can provide better support for care in the community.”