The purpose of this service is to provide multi-disciplinary specialised assessment and treatment of people with dementia, who require a period of specialised hospital care, due to complex behaviours, that cannot effectively be assessed, managed and treated in a community setting.
How to access the Service
A referral can only be made by a GP or member of the Community Mental Health Team for Older People and must then be agreed by the consultant psychiatrist.
In order to access this service, patients will need to meet the following admissions criteria:
- Patient has diagnosis of dementia/organic cognitive impairment.
- Consideration has been made of all community alternatives to admission and admission still considered necessary as:
- Patient requires formal admission under the Mental Health Order
and/or - Patient’s symptoms cannot be safely and appropriately managed or investigated outside a hospital setting
- Patient requires formal admission under the Mental Health Order
When patients come into the ward for investigation and management of their symptoms (behaviours) there is an expectation that they will be discharged as soon as they can be sustained in a community placement.