The effect of funding status on duration of stay for inpatients with dementia

Abstract

PurposeThis study is a follow‐up to a previously published paper, by Ball et al. in 2004. The purpose of the study was to examine the factors that influenced the discharge outcomes and duration of stay over the three years since the introduction of the National Framework for Continuing Health Care (CHC) provision in October 2007.Design/methodology/approachThis study examined consecutive dementia patients (n=175) admitted to an organic elderly mental health assessment ward over a three‐year period between January 2008 and December 2010. The majority of patients in the study had vascular dementia (34 per cent) or Alzheimer's disease (31 per cent) with an average score of 11.5 in the Mini‐Mental State Examination. The assessment tools used in this study were good indicators as part of the dementia care pathway to predict the rehabilitation outcome.FindingsThe mean duration of stay of patients was 8.4 weeks but this was extended to 18.3 weeks for the 15 per cent of patients subject to CHC funding. Patients who require CHC funding can expect to stay in hospital for more than ten weeks before a placement is made. Duration of stay was longer for those patients with behavioural and psychological complications, but the strongest independent predictor of duration of stay was CHC funding which accounted for 23 per cent of the duration of stay in hospital, independently of any clinical parameters in the patient.Originality/valueThis study provides evidence of the effect of current funding procedures in the discharge of inpatients with dementia from an assessment ward.