Overview of the project
In 2006 the Royal College of
Psychiatrists was asked by the Healthcare Commission to look into
priority areas for improvement of services for people with
dementia. Following a literature review and 3 round consultation
exercise, the report recommended an audit of the care of people
with dementia in general hospitals.
Why focus on care of people with dementia in general
hospitals?
- Up to 70 percent of acute hospital beds are currently
occupied by older people and up to one half of these may be people
with cognitive impairment, including those with dementia and
delirium.*
- People with dementia in general hospitals have worse outcomes
in terms of length of stay, mortality and institutionalisation.
*
- The National Audit Office has estimated the excess cost to be
more than £6 million per year in an average general hospital.*
* source: Living Well with
Dementia: A National Dementia Strategy. Department of
Health 2009
- A scoping and consultation exercise carried out by the Royal
College of Psychiatrists at the request of the Healthcare
Commission found that:
- admission to a general hospital ward is a time of high risk for
people with dementia
- admission can lead to worsening of the condition and poor
outcomes in general
- there is a need for better consistency in standards of care on
general hospital wards
- The National Dementia Strategy launched in 2009 has identified
improving the quality of care for people with dementia in general
hospitals as one of its key objectives.
The audit is funded by the Department of Health and has been
commissioned by the Healthcare Quality Improvement
Partnership (HQIP).
Partner organisations
The National Audit of Dementia is a
collaboration between the professional bodies for five of the main
disciplines involved in providing dementia services, and one of the
main voluntary sector providers of supports and services.
Our partner organisations are:
Each of the partner organisations
collaborating in the audit are represented on
our Steering Group, whose role is to
oversee the audit and to advise on all aspects of the
project including:
- standards
- methodology
- audit process
- recruitment of services
- reports and publications
- liaison with other key bodies
Steering group members
- Professor Peter Crome, Professor of
Geriatric Medicine, Keele, Consultant Geriatrician, North
Staffordshire Combined Healthcare NHS Trust (Chair)
- Professor Mike Crawford, Director,
Royal College of Psychiatrists’ Centre for Quality Improvement
(from 2011)
- Professor John Young, Head, Academic Unit
of Elderly Care & Rehabilitation, Leeds University and Bradford
Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust
- Dr Dave Anderson, former Chair of the
Faculty for Old Age Psychiatry, Royal College of Psychiatrists and
Consultant Old Age Psychiatrist and Medical Director, Mersey Care
NHS Trust
- Dr Andy Barker, Consultant in Old Age
Psychiatry and Vice Chair, Royal College of Psychiatrists Faculty
of Old Age Psychiatry (until 2012)
- Professor Dawn Brooker, Director,
University of Worcester Association for Dementia
- Janet Husk, Programme Manager, Healthcare of
Older People, Clinical Effectiveness and Evaluation Unit (CEEU),
Royal College of Physicians
- Kevin Stewart, Clinical Director, Clinical
Effectiveness and Evaluation Unit (CEEU), Royal College of
Physicians (from 2011)
- Geraldine Green, Policy Adviser,
Alzheimer’s Society (from 2013)
- Professor Martin Orrell, Professor of Ageing and Mental Health,
University College London, Associate Medical Director, North East
London Foundation Trust
- Rachel Thompson, Dementia Project Lead,
Royal College of Nursing (From 2011)
- Dr Daphne Wallace, Living With
Dementia
- Rosemary Woolley, Research Fellow,
Bradford Institute for Health Research
- Dr Imran Rafi, Medical Director, Royal College of General
Practitioners - CIRC
- Louise Lakey, Policy Manager, Alzheimer’s Society (until
2012)
- Dr Paul Lelliott, Director, Royal College of
Psychiatrists’ Centre for Quality Improvement (until
2011)
- Dr Jonathan Potter, Clinical Director,
Clinical Effectiveness and Evaluation Unit (CEEU), Royal College of
Physicians (until 2011)
- Dr Kim Manley, Learning & Development
Manager: Resources for Learning and Improving at the Royal College
of Nursing (until 2010)
Promoting quality improvement
Creating a national picture of care delivery
By participating in the national audit,
services will help to create a true picture of care delivery across
the country.
This will enable the Department of Health and
NHS Wales to develop realistic policies and targets to support
service development, based on an accurate understanding of what is
happening ‘in the field’.
The Healthcare Quality Improvement
Partnership (HQIP) advises that
‘clinicians, and their employing Trusts,
should view a well designed and effective national audit programme
as an essential tool for them to improve services and assess
performance’.
Supporting local services
For individual organisations and
services, participating in the national audit enables
individual clinicians and teams to:
- Benchmark their practice and performance against national
standards and other sites participating in the national audit;
- Identify areas in which they are performing well and areas for
improvement;
- Understand the views and experiences of those using their
service.
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