Social care crisis laid bare as quarter of NHS beds occupied by dementia patients

Demand for social care continues to rise as the population grows older but there is a shortage of workers in the sector

The scale of the crisis in social care is laid bare as figures show that dementia patients occupy a quarter of all beds in the NHS. People living with the disease often go into hospital after falls or infections as well as for acute medical or surgical problems.

Dementia patients often experience longer hospital stays than the average patient and can be delayed leaving wards due to a shortage of care in the community.

At any one time in the NHS, one in four hospital beds are occupied by people living with dementia, according to the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence, which says stays on wards can trigger distress, confusion and delirium for patients.

Doctors must carry out a discharge assessment of patients to ensure they are healthy before they can leave hospital. Medics assess a dementia patient’s care needs outside of hospital and discharge can be delayed if these are deemed not adequate.

Demand for social care continues to rise as the population grows older but there is a shortage of workers in the sector. Skills for Care estimated that, in 2022/23 an average of 9.9 per cent - or 152,000 - roles in adult social care in England went unfilled.

This was the equivalent to 152,000 vacancies - down by 11,000 from the previous year, although vacancies remain high compared to the wider UK economy.

Workers are leaving the sector in droves because of poor pay and conditions.

Services are so overstretched that people are left struggling without vital support to carry out everyday tasks in their own homes, and lives are being blighted.

Norman Phillips, 71, who looks after his wife Ros, who has multiple sclerosis and dementia, told The Independent he feels the help she receives from visiting carers is not at the level it was.

“Social services are losing staff to the local NHS hospital where they get paid £8,000 more,” he said.

“As carers they put so much kindness and effort into the job but one lady left, saying, ‘I can’t do the job I want to – I can’t look after these people. If I can’t do my job properly I’m not staying. There’s not time.’”

He added: “They’re always under pressure to move to the next call. If they’ve got a half-hour job, the actual care might be only take 15 minutes before they have to leave. But the extra 15 minutes is what makes people comfortable.

Norman and Ros Phillips (Age UK)

“This year alone, five of my wife’s regular carers have left”.

Debbie Abrahams MP, co-chair of the All Party Parliamentary Group on Dementia, said the fact that one in four beds was occupied by dementia patients was “symptomatic of the government’s failures to address the vital need for access to specialist social care support for people living with dementia.”

She told The Independent: “The crisis in social care and in particular the government’s failures to reform social care and funding in particular, are an indictment on them and their broken promises to all affected by dementia.”

Ms Abrahams, the MP for Oldham East in Greater Manchester, also criticised ministers’ decision to incorporate dementia in the government’s wider strategy for tackling major conditions.

A stand-alone strategy for the disease had been promised by Sajiv Javid, the former health and social care secretary but subsequently scrapped.

File photo: Debbie Abrahams MP (Getty)

“Given our ageing society the prevalence of dementia is going to continue to increase. However there is less awareness of the challenges of dementia, that dementia is the leading cause of death in the UK, and even what the risk factors for the brain diseases that cause dementia are,” Ms Abrahams said.

“As such society, I believe, we need a standalone Dementia strategy and not a diluted form in the government’s Major Conditions Strategy.”

A Department for Health and Social Care spokesperson said: “We are investing an additional £600 million this year and £1 billion next year through the Discharge Fund to support the NHS and local authorities to ensure timely and effective discharge from hospital.

“On top of the £500 million last year, this has helped the NHS and local authorities deliver additional care packages and beds, provide equipment to support people to return home and boost the social care workforce.

“We are determined to improve dementia care, which is why it is a central element of the forthcoming Major Conditions Strategy, which will tackle the key drivers of ill-health in England and improve diagnosis and treatment.”