Counting the Cost of Alzheimer's

In the U.K. a report by the Alzheimer's Society has painted a bleak picture of the care given by the NHS to people with this condition. Based on a survey of 1,291 friends and relatives, 657 nurses and 479 ward managers the Counting the Cost report found that half of the people with Alzheimer's admitted to hospital left with worse health than when they went in. More than three-quarters of relatives were dissatisfied with treatment and one in three had made an official complaint. Poor care was leading to people spending much longer in hospital than was necessary, patients were being left unfed and with nothing to drink and even sitting in their own urine. Patients also suffered from weight loss, dehydration, pressure sores and incontinence after being left in bed for too long. The society found that at any one time people with Alzheimer's occupied one in four NHS hospital beds.

You can download a copy of the Counting the Cost report at

http://www.alzheimers.org.uk/site/scripts/download_info.php?fileID=787