According to stats provided by the Alzheimer’s Society, one in ten dementia patients spends over a month in hospital after being admitted.
Caused by damage to the brain by diseases such as Alzheimer’s disease, dementia is often characterised by symptoms such as memory loss, difficulty problem solving and changes in behaviour. The prevalence of dementia is also seen to be increasing, with hospital statistics showing an increase of 100,000 patients admitted with dementia from 2013 to 2018.
Speaking on behalf of Alzheimer’s Society, Jeremy Hughes expressed concern that “people with dementia are all too often dumped in hospital and left there. Many are admitted because there’s no social care support to keep them safe. They are commonly spending more than twice as long in hospital as needed, confused and scared”.
Other than substantive changes to the health service, is there anything that you can do to tackle this or prevent it from happening to you?
By putting a Lasting Power of Attorney for Health and Welfare in place, you are able to appoint attorneys who you trust to make decisions for you should you become unable to do so yourself. These decisions could range from the form of the treatment that you receive while in hospital, to decisions regarding which care facility you live in and, will enable your Attorneys to ensure that you are not left in hospital unnecessarily. Ultimately, a Lasting Power of Attorney of this nature will give your loved ones a voice, when they might not have otherwise had one and ensure that you are best looked after and receive the care you need.
For advice or assistance regarding Lasting Powers of Attorney
Please call our Private Client team on 01245 493939.
This is not legal advice; it is intended to provide information of general interest about current legal issues.
