Open Consultation

The Geller Commission: Consultation to reduce unwarranted or avoidable dementia-related hospital occupancy in England

Consultation description

The Geller Commission Report will produce a series of practical steps that can be taken to reduce the number of people with dementia in hospital without a specific acute medical reason. Indeed, the Commission will bring together a panel of experts across medicine, social care, academia, industry and the third sector, all of whom will provide new perspectives on the issue and propose pragmatic, innovative solutions.

Principles

The review will be conducted independently and will be evidence based. It will draw its conclusions from experts and existing research, collecting new evidence where appropriate to ensure there is a robust basis for its findings. Submissions will be received by the University of West London who are acting as the research partner for the Commission.

Consultation questions

Pre-admission

• What are the main reasons for hospitalising a person living with dementia?
• What additional resources and support do carers and families need to prevent hospitalisation?
• What additional resources and training do hospitals and healthcare professionals need to prevent avoidable admissions?
• What do you think could help in reducing avoidable hospitalisations?
• What are the best approaches to preventing hospitalisation?
• Do you have examples of good practices from which we could learn?

Integration & Care Planning

• What are the barriers to needs assessment and the creation and delivery of care plans for people living with dementia?
• What specific aspects of care within our hospitals can be improved to support people living with dementia?
• What steps do you think need to be taken to improve the diagnosis of dementia for people once they are in the hospital and the support they receive after a diagnosis?
• How can community services improve how they collaborate with hospitals throughout the patient journey?
• Do you have examples of good practices from which we could learn?

Simplification

• How can technology be used to identify and improve clinical bottlenecks for discharge?
• How can transportation services better support the discharge process?
• How can carers and families be better supported throughout the patient journey?
• Do you have examples of good practices from which we could learn?

Factsheet

• It is estimated that approximately 25% of beds in hospitals are occupied by people living with dementia. Their length of stay is often longer than for people without dementia and there can also be delays in supporting them to leave hospital.
• The number of hospital bed days for people living with dementia increased from 6.3m (2010/11) to 9.4m (2017/18)
• ¼ of hospital beds are occupied by people living with dementia who are over 65.
• 40% of all unplanned hospital admissions after a diagnosis of dementia took place in the last year of life.
• 49% (equating to 129,000 people) with a previous diagnosis of dementia were untested and not recorded as having a diagnosis of dementia while in hospital in 2014/15.
• 27% of patients who had previously been admitted with a diagnosis of dementia have this recorded on a subsequent admission.
• The readmission rate for people living with dementia is far higher than for people without, 8.25% vs 3.8% for elective care and 25% vs 17% for non-elective care.

Ways to respond

Email to:

thegellercommission@uwl.ac.uk