Sanatinia, Rahil, Crawford, Mike J., Quirk, Alan, Hood, Chloe, Gordon, Fabiana, Crome, Peter, Staniszewska, Sophie, Zafarani, Gemma, Hammond, Sara, Burns, Alistair and Seers, Kate (2020) Identifying features associated with higher-quality hospital care and shorter length of admission for people with dementia : a mixed-methods study. Health Services and Delivery Research, 8 (22). pp. 1-92. doi:10.3310/hsdr08220 ISSN 2050-4349.
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Abstract
Background:
Concerns have repeatedly been expressed about the quality of inpatient care that people with dementia receive. Policies and practices have been introduced that aim to improve this, but their impact is unclear.
Aims:
To identify which aspects of the organisation and delivery of acute inpatient services for people with dementia are associated with higher-quality care and shorter length of stay.
Design:
Mixed-methods study combining a secondary analysis of data from the third National Audit of Dementia (2016/17) and a nested qualitative exploration of the context, mechanism and outcomes of acute care for people with dementia.
Setting:
Quantitative data from 200 general hospitals in England and Wales and qualitative data from six general hospitals in England that were purposively selected based on their performance in the audit.
Participants:
Quantitative data from clinical records of 10,106 people with dementia who had an admission to hospital lasting ≥ 72 hours and 4688 carers who took part in a cross-sectional survey of carer experience. Qualitative data from interviews with 56 hospital staff and seven carers of people with dementia.
Main outcome measures:
Length of stay, quality of assessment and carer-rated experience.
Results:
People with dementia spent less time in hospital when discharge planning was initiated within 24 hours of admission. This is a challenging task when patients have complex needs, and requires named staff to take responsibility for co-ordinating the discharge and effective systems for escalating concerns when obstacles arise. When trust boards review delayed discharges, they can identify recurring problems and work with local stakeholders to try to resolve them. Carers of people with dementia play an important role in helping to ensure that hospital staff are aware of patient needs. When carers are present on the ward, they can reassure patients and help make sure that they eat and drink well, and adhere to treatment and care plans. Clear communication between staff and family carers can help ensure that they have realistic expectations about what the hospital staff can and cannot provide. Dementia-specific training can promote the delivery of person-centred care when it is made available to a wide range of staff and accompanied by ‘hands-on’ support from senior staff.
Limitations:
The quantitative component of this research relied on audit data of variable quality. We relied on carers of people with dementia to explore aspects of service quality, rather than directly interviewing people with dementia.
Conclusions:
If effective support is provided by senior managers, appropriately trained staff can work with carers of people with dementia to help ensure that patients receive timely and person-centred treatment, and that the amount of time they spend in hospital is minimised.
Future work:
Future research could examine new ways to work with carers to co-produce aspects of inpatient care, and to explore the relationship between ethnicity and quality of care in patients with dementia.
Funding:
This project was funded by the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) Health Services and Delivery Research programme and will be published in full in Health Services and Delivery Research; Vol. 8, No. 22. See the NIHR Journals Library website for further project information.
| Item Type: | Journal Article |
|---|---|
| Subjects: | R Medicine > RC Internal medicine |
| Divisions: | Faculty of Science, Engineering and Medicine > Medicine > Warwick Medical School |
| Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH): | Dementia -- Patients -- Care -- Great Britain, Critical care medicine, Hospital patients, Hospital care -- Great Britain, Medical care -- Needs assessment -- Great Britain |
| Journal or Publication Title: | Health Services and Delivery Research |
| Publisher: | NIHR Journals Library |
| ISSN: | 2050-4349 |
| Official Date: | May 2020 |
| Dates: | Date Event May 2020 Published 12 May 2020 Accepted |
| Volume: | 8 |
| Number: | 22 |
| Page Range: | pp. 1-92 |
| DOI: | 10.3310/hsdr08220 |
| Status: | Peer Reviewed |
| Publication Status: | Published |
| Re-use Statement: | © Queen’s Printer and Controller of HMSO 2020. This work was produced by Sanatinia et al. under the terms of a commissioning contract issued by the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care. This issue may be freely reproduced for the purposes of private research and study and extracts (or indeed, the full report) may be included in professional journals provided that suitable acknowledgement is made and the reproduction is not associated with any form of advertising. Applications for commercial reproduction should be addressed to: NIHR Journals Library, National Institute for Health Research, Evaluation, Trials and Studies Coordinating Centre, Alpha House, University of Southampton Science Park, Southampton SO16 7NS, UK. |
| Access rights to Published version: | Open Access (Creative Commons open licence) |
| Date of first compliant deposit: | 21 May 2020 |
| Date of first compliant Open Access: | 21 May 2020 |
| RIOXX Funder/Project Grant: | Project/Grant ID RIOXX Funder Name Funder ID |
| URI: | https://wrap.warwick.ac.uk/136931/ |
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