Project hopes for improved dementia care

UP TO 25 per cent of dementia cases in city hospitals are going unrecorded, it has emerged.

NHS Lothian has launched a scheme to improve upon the diagnosis rate when elderly people are leaving hospital.

On discharge, around five per cent are currently recorded as suffering from the disease.

But anecdotally hospital sources say as many as 30 per cent of patients in the Edinburgh Royal Infirmary have dementia at any one time.

A screening project has been launched which, it is hoped, will mean patients with dementia receive more tailored care.

Increasing rates of the condition will pose one of the biggest challenges to health care in the Lothians in future years.

Thousands more will be diagnosed as the population ages, and several charities and experts have called on health boards and the Scottish Government to be ready to deal with the problem.