Thousands of Dementia Patients Cared for by Untrained Staff

By John Carvel, The Guardian

March 17, 2009

United Kingdom

Thousands of older people with dementia are living in care homes where the staff have no training in how to deal with the condition, a national investigation's report revealed today.

It found that homes lacking specialised knowledge about caring for people with dementia are more likely to control residents' behaviour with anti-psychotic drugs, which diminish their quality of life.

Healthcare market analyst Laing & Buisson examined the services provided for 142,000 residents of care homes across Britain for whom dementia was a known cause of admission. It found that only 57% are receiving specialist care. One third of care homes claiming to offer dedicated dementia provision had no specific dementia training for staff.

Neil Hunt, chief executive of Alzheimer's Society, said: "Two thirds of care home residents have dementia ... yet, as these new figures show, the vast majority of people are not in homes set up to care for people with dementia.

"It is a sad indictment of the current state of dementia care that a third of care homes specifically registered for dementia fail to provide their staff with any dementia care training. This is probably the tip of the iceberg, with many thousands more people with dementia in non-specialist homes."

Hunt added: "Our research has shown that training staff to deliver person-centred care can improve people's quality of life and reduce the use of dangerous antipsychotic drugs. In less than 15 years there will be a million people living with dementia. We need to gear the whole of the care-home sector to delivering good dementia care."

Jeremy Wright, chairman of the all-party parliamentary group on dementia, said it will today start an inquiry into whether social care staff are being equipped with the right skills for dealing with dementia .

"Everyone has the right to know they are entrusting people they love into good quality care. Sadly this is not always the reality," he said. "Today's inquiry is an important step towards making sure millions of people with dementia receive a high quality of care."

Alex Mitchell, author of the Laing & Buisson study, said: "It is surprising that no major operator or brand has yet positioned itself as a 'full service' specialist provider of the entire range of personalised dementia care, from advice and brokerage to low level support, home care, day care and residential and nursing care.

"It is possible that the government's promotion of more personalised, consumer-orientated care and support ... will provide an environment in which such comprehensive and flexible offerings could take root."

He said it is likely the Department of Health will soon intervene to stop the overuse of anti-psychotic medication in care homes. This may "significantly raise care home operating costs and lead to a shift towards greater segregation within the homes," he added.

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