Friday, May 29, 2009

Dementia care 'human rights' call

Urgent action should be taken to protect the human rights of people with dementia in care homes, a charity says.

The call from Alzheimer Scotland came as two watchdogs published a report after visiting 30 care homes and interviewing 1,335 residents.

It said drugs had been hidden in food to make patients more manageable and about half never went outside.

The Scottish Government is to launch a national dementia strategy later on Thursday.

About 65,000 people in Scotland have dementia and about 40% are in care homes or hospitals.

The Care Commission and Mental Welfare Commission visited a sample of homes between August and March and detailed their findings in a report, Remember I'm Still Me.

It said before the patients were admitted most had already had a good medical assessment, with input from GPs and dieticians.

But after admission, the report said very few had annual GP health checks and there was little evidence that medication was regularly reviewed.

READ MORE @ BBC NEWS