Case-finding in hospitals:impact on care for people with dementia

When someone aged 75 or older goes into hospital unexpectedly it is government policy that, amongst the many tests they have done, there should also be an assessment of their memory. This research project looked at what impacts these assessments may have on patients and the care they receive.

CASCADE study focused on three main things. 1. How was case-finding was being done in the East of England, 2) what did healthcare professionals in hospitals and general practice think about the value of it and 3) did it affect care or follow up for older people once they had been discharged from hospital. There was great variation in the way hospitals recorded the outcomes of case finding and reported it to GPs. Hospital staff were generally most positive about case finding that GPs. We also found that dementia case-finding may not lead to increased GP follow up or service provision for patients after discharge from hospital. More information about our study can be found here: https://bmjopen.bmj.com/content/8/3/e020521. For more information about the study contact Professor Frances Bunn [email protected]