Dementia as a cause for emergency hospital admissions has risen by 12 percent in the last five years, a new report from dementia experts shows. According to Yahoo News, 2,000 more dementia-related cases showed up in emergency rooms this year than in 2006.
Researchers believe the numbers reflect a “continued failure by some hospitals to accurately diagnose people with dementia,” Yahoo said.
Common and Complex: Commissioning Effective Dementia Services in the New World recommends that health departments and other stakeholders in the fight against the affliction come up with a standard diagnosis of dementia for 2012. Doing so will save on both costs and time, said Jeremy Hughes.
“For many thousands of people with dementia, being admitted to the hospital is not the best treatment,” said Hughes, who serves as the chief executive of the Alzheimer’s Society. “It is also very costly. Commissioners must invest in services in the community to reduce this number and help people with dementia to live well at home…Change cannot come soon enough.”
According to eMedicineHealth.com, about four to five million people in the United States have some degree of dementia. With the ongoing aging of the population, that number is expected to increase over the next few decades.
In the U.K., the need for change is especially apparent. The National Audit of Dementia criticized British caregivers for their poor treatment of dementia in a report issued this week.
