Many healthcare environments do not adequately support the needs of people with dementia, the first assessment of its kind has found.
Poor quality flooring, signage, handrails and seating have left some health services failing to achieve an acceptable environment for people with the chronic brain disorder, which is estimated to affect one in three people over 65.
The Health & Social Care Information Centre (HSCIC) considered for the first time how prepared healthcare environments are in supporting dementia patients as part of a series of assessments into aspects of non-clinical care, such as cleanliness and patient dignity.
The national average score in the dementia assessment was 75%, with a lowest score of 40% and a highest rating of 100%, the HSCIC said.
The report described the dementia figures as "relatively low" in comparison to other criteria such as cleanliness, rated at 97%, and patient dignity at 86%.
Janet Morrison, chief executive of Independent Age, a charity which supports older people, said uniform settings can be confusing and difficult to navigate for people with dementia while practical aids such as simple signs, grab rails and distinctive paintwork can "make all the difference".
"These figures reveal that a significant number of hospitals and care settings still have a long way to go to fully meet the needs of patients with dementia," she said.
"The Prime Minister David Cameron has talked of an ongoing challenge to tackle dementia. This challenge must continue by providing improved and appropriate hospital care and more dementia-friendly environments for patients with this long-term condition."
The report said: "The national average score for the dementia domain was relatively low at 74.51%. This however is as expected since the assessment was only introduced in 2015 and it is recognised that many healthcare environments are some way from being wholly appropriate for the treatment of people with dementia.
"However recognising and planning how to meet the challenges this represents is a crucial first step in bringing about improvements and this aspect of the assessment should help healthcare providers in identifying what they may need to do in this important area."
The HSCIC, which assessed 1,044 sites against the dementia criteria, said the content of assessments is guided by NHS England and the Department of Health.
A Department of Health spokesman said: "Hospitals can be confusing places for people with dementia, that's why we've asked the NHS to listen to patients and their families about how buildings can be made more dementia-friendly.
"Using the right signage and colours on the floors and walls can help people with dementia feel safer. These scores show the NHS has made a good start."
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules here