There are approximately 850,000 people living with dementia in the UK. Around 70 percent of acute hospital beds are occupied by older people, approximately 40 percent of whom have dementia. Improving the quality of care in hospitals is a key priority within national dementia strategies. There is evidence to suggest that dementia training approaches are highly variable. Limited research has been conducted to evaluate dementia training packages, and where evaluation takes place this often focuses on immediate, on-the-day training feedback and effects. We will present early findings from our structured Hospital Organisational Survey sent to hospitals in England (n= approx. 193). The survey recruitment is researcher-led involving telephoning and identifying dementia leads in each hospital. The survey will enable us to explore variations in 1) the dementia training strategy within each hospital, 2) the presence; timing, characteristics and format of training programmes; skill mix and mode of delivery; frequency, duration and intensity of training; staff groups in receipt of training; quality of training; resources utilised in developing and/or provision of dementia training, including costs and number of staff trained. 3) what other initiatives are implemented e.g. having a dementia champion, active participation in Butterfly scheme, Dementia Friends, carers allowed on wards at meal time.
We aim to use existing data, such as Hospital Episode Statistics, alongside a further staff level survey to assess the variation in dementia training, health service outcome/process measures (e.g. length of stay and emergency re-admissions) and staff outcomes (e.g. confidence and knowledge). From this study we will identify specific recommendations and guidance about which elements of the training packages are potentially more effective and appropriate for use in acute hospital settings. To help to promote the study, additional endorsements were sought from a number of key stakeholders to facilitate this research, including Dementia Action Alliance and the Royal College of Nursing.