More than 25,000 dementia patients have been sectioned in mental health units in the past five years, The Telegraph has discovered amid warnings that they are being locked up to "control" their behaviour.
The Telegraph found that more than 25,223 patients with dementia in England have been sectioned over the last five years, with more than a thousand of these patients locked in hospital wards without any dementia specialist care.
Experts said the figures were “deeply shocking” and warned that health workers may be misusing the Mental Health Act to section people inappropriately.
Families told The Telegraph their relatives had had a terrible experience under the section. One woman described how her mother was first held on a hospital ward with younger people where “she didn’t feel safe at all” and when she was moved to a ward for over 65-year-olds she was hit by other patients and even bitten.
Richard Harvey said his 74-year-old dad George Harvey “thought he was in prison”.
“For someone who’s that fragile at that point in their life it’s a terrible thing to be going through,” he added.
Patients with dementia might be appropriately sectioned if they are being aggressive or are unable to look after themselves. If sectioned, the patient is often not free to leave the hospital and will be closely supervised.
However, campaigners said that health workers who are not used to dementia patients sometimes use the Mental Health Act as a shortcut to dealing with difficult behaviour.
Once the person is sectioned families can struggle to get them discharged. Age UK said families had reported being unable to get a frail relative discharged even after they have passed through the aggressive stage of their dementia and are approaching the end of their life.
Sally Copley, Director of Policy and Campaigns at Alzheimer's Society, said: “We know that parts of the [Mental Health] Act, which should be used to assess or treat someone, are instead being used to control their loved ones’ behaviour. This is unacceptable.”
The charity has been contacted by families who feel their relatives with dementia are being wrongly sectioned “in the absence of appropriate care and support which they so urgently need”.
This is despite experts calling on the government to rethink the use of sectioning with dementia patients. The Alzheimer’s Society has said NHS staff should receive training to better understand dementia patients and when the Mental Health Act should be used.
Dementia patients can be held in facilities where they are at risk of harm from younger residents and without mobility aids such as raised toilet seats and grab rails in toilets, Age UK warned.
Lesley Carter, Clinical Lead and Senior Health Influencing Manager at Age UK, said there are “many sad stories” from families of sectioned dementia sufferers often found “medicated and slumped in chairs not responding to the world around them”.
She said: “Families describe being part of a mental health detention as upsetting and frightening because the situation is usually in response to crisis. It’s often unplanned and rushed and there is little clear information about process or progress or what to expect.
“We hear that the person is often whisked away, distressed, afraid and bewildered into a place (that may be many miles away from their local area) that has nothing familiar. The person finds themselves suddenly alone in a strange and sometimes hostile environment. Relatives who have been providing care for years, supporting and making joint decisions are suddenly excluded,” she added.
Several family members of elderly people with dementia told The Telegraph their relatives felt unsafe on the locked wards and that the section meant they were not allowed to take their loved ones out for day trips.
Nearly 100 of the dementia patients who were sectioned were also sent to institutions hundreds of miles from their homes and families – making it hard for relatives to visit.
Freedom of Information Act responses from 76 hospitals and councils across England revealed that 25,223 dementia patients have been sectioned over the last five years, with 95 patients sent more than 50 miles away from their homes and their families.
Patients who are sectioned can either be held in a hospital under section two of the Mental Health Act, which allows the person to be kept in hospital for up to 28 days to be assessed, or section three which can keep the person in hospital for up to six months and then this detention can continue subject to regular checks from a doctor.
Two doctors must sign off on the section and give medical recommendations that say why the person can only be treated in a psychiatric hospital.
One of these doctors must have specialist experience of working with people with a mental disorder and the second doctor should normally be someone who knows the person, such as their GP.
Caroline Abrahams, Charity Director at Age UK, said that the large number of dementia patients being locked up was a symptom of a “totally dysfunctional” social care system.
“It is horrific that any older person suffering with dementia is being sectioned and incarcerated in a mental health establishment that is woefully ill equipped to meet their needs - and all because the social care market is totally dysfunctional and failing dismally.”
Ms Copley said: “It’s deeply shocking to see the number of people with dementia being detained under the Mental Health Act.
“The Mental Health Act should never be used as a fall back for good person-centred care but only as an absolute last resort. Professionals must be empowered with a comprehensive understanding of dementia and should be able to interpret the Act appropriately to always ensure the best care for the person with dementia."
A Department of Health and Social Care spokesperson said: “We want to make England the best country in the world for dementia care and the NHS is committed to eliminating out of area placements so that patients get the right care, at the right time and as close to home as possible.
“We are working to modernise the Mental Health Act to make sure people affected have a greater say in how they are treated.”
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