Aarti Gandesha and colleagues present the results of a national audit to assess how hospital staff from different specialties rated their awareness of the needs of patients with dementia

People with dementia are frequently admitted to general wards where their dementia is often unrecognised and related healthcare needs are unaddressed. This article examines how staff view the training they have received in assessing and caring for people with dementia who are admitted to hospital. It reports on the results of the National Audit of Dementia (Care in General Hospitals); staff completed questionnaires reporting the sufficiency of their training in 13 main areas related to dementia care.

Responses were obtained from 270 doctors, 968 qualified nurses and 541 healthcare assistants (HCAs); 690 worked on medical wards, 677 on surgical/orthopaedic wards and 412 on care of older people wards. Doctors felt more adequately trained than nurses or HCAs. Nurses on medical and surgical/orthopaedic wards thought their training was less sufficient than their colleagues working on care of older people wards.

The authors conclude that nurses and HCAs working on wards not specialising in the care of older people should receive increased training in dementia care.