Agenda item

Report and presentation attached.

The Committee was addressed by a member of the public who had serious concerns over the standard of care given at Whipps Cross Hospital to her late mother had had suffered with dementia. These events had taken place in December 2016 and January 2017. There had been a lack of dementia care nurses and care had not been patient-centred. There had also been no evidence of the use of any Forget Me Not documentation to support the care of patients with the dementia.

It was felt by the member of the public that the hospital environment was not dementia friendly and that her mother’s cognitive needs had been poorly assessed. It was felt that many staff were not skilled in treating patients with dementia – actions were rushed and staff repeatedly failed to state what they were about to do. Insufficient care was paid to the person’s mother’s cannula and there had been a lack of oral care leading to mouth ulcers.

There had also been an absence of positive working with family members or carers and a lack of response from nurses on the ward. The member of the public felt that the policies and practices for caring for patients with dementia that were in place at Whipps Cross were simply not carried out in the case of her late mother.

The Committee expressed their condolences on the death of the member of the public’s mother and it was noted that the Committee had no power to hear individual complaints.

Officers from Barts Health NHS Trust also offered their condolences and stated that there was a strong commitment to dementia care at Barts Health. The Trust now had a fully established dementia team and did now use the Forget Me Not documents. A lot of advice was now available for patients with dementia and the Trust actively sought feedback.

£500k had been awarded from the Trust in order to make the hospital environment more dementia friendly. All admitted patients aged over 75 years now received dementia screening. A dementia champion had been assigned to each ward and dementia buddies had been recruited from volunteers at Whipps Cross. Carers of patients with dementia were also supported by the Trust and given name badges etc. to identify them.

The dementia screening undertaken was reviewed on a weekly basis. Activity boxes for each ward had been funded by the hospital charity which helped the wellbeing of patients. 

It was emphasised that all new members of staff at Barts Health, regardless of grade or role, were given one hour of training on dementia. Figures on the proportion of staff who had completed dementia training could be supplied to the Committee and the Chairman would request further information that the Committee would require. It was suggested that this could also include information on the staff induction programme and on how Barts Health measured the impact of this training on patient experience. Officers added that work was in progress with the patient experience lead at Whipps Cross on getting patient feedback on dementia care at the hospital.

It was clarified that any enhanced care offered would be in addition to safer staffing numbers and that all agency staff were required to have had relevant dementia training.

The Committee recorded their thanks to the member of the public for their input to the meeting. It was agreed that the Chairman, in conjunction with the clerk, should ask for a set of more detailed information on this subject from Barts Health.