Hundreds with dementia won't be home for Christmas but needlessly stuck in hospital

A lack of available care homes and home care, due to underfunding, will see at least 1,400 people with dementia spending Christmas Day in hospital, despite being fit enough to go home.

Those with dementia are being delayed in hospital up to 10 times as long as those without the condition, according to the Alzheimer’s Society, which analysed data from NHS hospital-led audits.

The charity has discovered people with dementia spent 500,000 extra days in hospital in 2016 - at a cost to the NHS of over £170 million, despite being well enough to go home.

Jeremy Hughes, chief executive at Alzheimer’s Society, said: “With such scarce social care funding, wards are being turned into waiting rooms, and safety is being jeopardised.

“From the woman who spent two months on a bed in a corridor because there were no available care homes, to the man who died after months of waiting left him debilitated by hospital-acquired infections, people with dementia are repeatedly falling victim to a system that cannot meet their needs.

“One million people will have dementia by 2021, yet local authorities’ social care budgets are woefully inadequate, and no new money has been promised in the budget to cope with increasing demand.”

Nurses say some with dementia are stuck in hospital for over a year

The charity warns the figure of 1,400 could be much higher as little data is gathered on dementia care in hospitals and some people with the condition are undiagnosed. The charity worked with six hospital trusts across England to run audits on the proportion of people experiencing delayed transfers of care (DTOC) who had dementia - as this data is not collected at a national level. On average, 25 per cent of those experiencing DTOC had dementia.

It also conducted a survey of nurses in collaboration with the Royal College of Nursing and found one in 10 nurses surveyed witnessed people with dementia waiting in hospital for over a year.

Dawne Garrett, Royal College of Nursing professional lead for the Care of Older People and Dementia, said: "Hospital is not the best place for people living with dementia, where they are at risk of falling or contracting an infection."

Dad stranded for six months

Fred was stranded in hospital for 10 weeks, despite being fit to leave after five.

His daughter Janet said: "I rang six care homes in the area, but they said they couldn't have him because he's at risk of falls. People with dementia are being let down. We've just got to keep badgering the Government as they're not putting enough money into social care."

Karen Moore, whose dad also had dementia said: "It was a nightmare. It wasn’t the right environment for Dad and we were under pressure to free-up a bed.

"But because his needs fluctuated so much it was impossible to get him sorted with social care, so he was stuck in hospital for six months. Dad got infection after infection; it was like he was being taken down by a pack of wolves. Eventually, he died on the ward."

There is an estimated annual £2.3 billion funding gap facing adult social care up to 2020, impacting on thousands of people in need of personal care — including those with dementia.

Councillor Izzi Seccombe, chairman of the Local Government Association's (LGA) Community Wellbeing Board, said: “These tragic stories of people fit to leave but stuck in hospital over Christmas reinforces our urgent call for genuinely new funding for adult social care in the Local Government Finance Settlement.

"It was hugely disappointing that the Chancellor found money for the NHS but nothing for adult social care in the Autumn Budget. Spending plans for the new NHS funding should be agreed with local government to ensure its most effective use locally."

The Alzheimer's Society is asking the public to sign its petition calling on the Government to properly fund social care at: alzheimers.org.uk/fixdementiacare