East Lancashire cracks down on dementia

East Lancashire hospitals are going to extra lengths to ensure cases of dementia don't slip through the net by introducing screening for all patients over the age of 75.

Older adults visiting the hospital, whether through emergency or operative admissions, will now be assessed for the degenerative brain condition, the Lancashire Telegraph reported.

This will form part of the trust's dementia strategy and is hoped to be rolled out to younger people in the future.

John Dean, associate medical director for service integration, explained to the newspaper: "We will be asking a simple question to the patient or their family members, such as ‘have you noticed a change in your ability to remember or function within the last 12 months?’."

He added that if the answers to any of these questions are yes the second stage of screening will be more comprehensive.

The introduction of this strategy follows the release of a study that identified that dementia was present in 25 per cent all patients in Scotland.

Read more about Barchester's dementia care homes.