Hospitals fail to check dementia patients’ nutritional and mental status

Nearly a third (30%) of hospital patients with dementia in England and Wales do not receive a nutritional assessment on admission and more than half (59%) do not have their mental status tested, according to the interim national audit of dementia in general hospitals.

The figures contrast with the fact that 96% of the hospitals surveyed said their policy was to provide nutritional assessments for people with dementia and 74% had a similar policy for checking mental status.

The audit was commissioned by the Healthcare Quality Improvement Partnership and conducted by the Royal …