Public offered chance to play a part in improving dementia care

Bradford Royal Infirmary is one of only three sites across the UK enlisted in the peri-operative enhanced recovery hip fracture care of patients with dementia (PERFECTED) study, which will examine the way hospitals care for and rehabilitate patients after they undergo surgery for a fractured hip.

The five-year programme will investigate how better standards of care can be implemented across the NHS to improve the outcomes of hospital admission for people with dementia.

One quarter of NHS hospital beds are occupied by people with dementia and rehabilitation is difficult due to acute confusion and other complications.

Many return home in worse health than when they were admitted, according to experts.

The research programme is looking for people who have been touched by dementia to act as lay researchers and advisory members on its study.

Isla Dowds, patient and public involvement facilitator at Bradford Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, said: “The main reason for involving local people in this way is so that their expertise, gained through their personal experience, can shape the research programme.

“They can make sure that it reflects how a person affected by dementia might think or feel about it.”

Lay researchers will help the programme to assist in the
collection and analysis of interviews.

Carers or people living with dementia are also being sought for the advisory group.

Simon Hammond, programme manager and research fellow for the PERFECTED study, said: “We need people who will be willing to contribute to discussions and making decisions, and help us produce research that can be understood and put to practical use.”