Almost one in six NHS hospitals is being occupied by dementia patients, costing the service around £12million a day, a review has warned.
Without major reforms to social care, researchers predict that one in four beds could be occupied by dementia patients by 2040, overwhelming hospitals and restricting access to treatment.
The review comes as Prime Minister Andy Burnham pushes ahead with plans to overhaul England’s social care system, in the hope this will create a fully funded National Care Service.
Mr Burnham has pledged to spend “political capital” on the initiative but has yet to explain how it will be financed, having ruled out increases to income tax, National Insurance, and VAT.
Some patients remain under hospital care due to a lack of community support
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The review, led by University College London (UCL) and backed by the Geller Commission, Dementia UK and the Alzheimer’s Society, drew on dementia-related hospital admissions.
It involved 77 studies, including almost 1.5 million people, revealing that individuals with dementia are 42 per cent more likely to be admitted to hospital than those without the condition. Once admitted, they spend seven times longer on wards.
Many remain under hospital care despite being medically fit for discharge due to a lack of available community support.
Hospitals in the UK currently act as a safety net for an overstretched social care system, the researchers warned, with evidence growing that thousands of dementia patients are staying for lengthy periods.
What’s more, the costs of this care are projected to more than double from £42.5billion to £90billion by 2040, driven by avoidable hospital admissions and delayed discharges.
Laurence Geller, who commissioned the review, warned the current situation is unsustainable.
He explained: “For too long, the crisis facing people with dementia in our hospitals has been hiding in plain sight – acknowledged but never resolved, despite the millions of people across the country who have first-hand experience of the inadequacies of current care.
“Our hospitals are already stretched to breaking point. It simply is not sustainable to allocate one in six hospital beds to people with dementia when neither they nor their families want them to be there, at a cost to the taxpayer of more than £12million a day.”
Some patients remain under hospital care due to a lack of community support
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He added: “Without urgent action, almost one in four hospital beds could be occupied by people with dementia within 15 years, which would overwhelm hospitals and crowd out care for everyone.”
The report’s authors argue that closer integration between health and social care, including advance care planning and stronger community-based support, could significantly reduce hospital admissions and lengthy stays for people living with dementia.
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