PHT Public Trust Board Papers March 2011.pdf - Plymouth Hospitals

Item 8
DETAILED REPORT
Trust Board (Part 1) 25 March 2011
Subject
Prepared by
Approved by
Presented by
Standards for Patients with Dementia
Associate Director of Nursing/Nurse Consultant Older People
Chief Nurse
Chief Nurse
Purpose
The purpose of this report is to inform the Board on the requirement to undertake and report to
its commissioners, a self assessment against the South West Standards for People with
Dementia in General Hospitals and to publish this by the end of March 2011.
Background
The Trust is required to undertake and report to its commissioners, a self assessment against
the South West Standards for People with Dementia in General Hospitals (Annex 1). This
assessment should be published by the end of March 2011, with an improvement plan
approved by end of June 2011. A peer review process to monitor progress against the
standards across general hospitals in the South West will commence in September 2011.
The self-assessment against the standards has begun – with the formation of a multi-agency
working group, including stakeholders and carers. The initial self-assessment has been
reported to the Safety & Quality Committee and is being developed further. An improvement
plan will be finalised by June 2011.
It is important to ensure that work towards improving standards of care for patients with
Dementia in hospital, links with other work towards the quality agenda and improving patient
experiences such as Essences of Care, Delivering Excellence and High Impact Actions. An
important element of improving standards for patients with Dementia in hospital will be the
awareness and training of all staff.
People with Dementia will access services in the majority of Trust specialities - they are
admitted to hospital with a wide range of clinical issues and will access services both
electively and through urgent care pathways. The South West Dementia Partnership
Standards for Patients with Dementia in General hospitals, aim to incrementally improve all
aspects of care for patients with dementia. The standards will be used to:
• benchmark hospital services;
• identify gaps in services; and
• drive improvements in care, facilities and services for people with dementia.
The standards take account of existing national and local expectations, performance
measures and standards – such as the National Dementia Strategy, NICE Quality standards,
CQC Essential Standards for Quality & Safety; National Audit of Dementia in hospitals, South
West SHA performance framework for delivery of the National Dementia Strategy.
Recent reports and research have highlighted the shortcomings in the current provision of
dementia services in the UK. Dementia presents a huge challenge to society, both now and
increasingly in the future. There are currently 700,000 people in the UK with dementia; up to
70% of acute hospital beds are currently occupied by older people and up to a half of these
may be people with cognitive impairment, including those with dementia and delirium.
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