Dementia Assessment and Referral data collection – January 2020
Dementia Assessment and Referral data collection – January 2020
The Collection
The January 2020 data for the Dementia Assessment and Referral data collection in England by NHS England were released on 1st April 2020 according to the arrangements approved by the UK Statistics Authority.
The collection’s purpose is to improve the identification of older patients with dementia and delirium, to monitor appropriate assessment and to prompt appropriate referral and follow up after they leave hospital. Three measures are reported – the number and proportion of patients aged 75 and over admitted as an emergency for more than 72 hours:
- who have a diagnosis of dementia or delirium or to whom case finding is applied; [Find]
- who, if identified as potentially having dementia or delirium, are appropriately assessed; [Assess/Investigate], and,
- where the outcome was positive or inconclusive, are referred on to specialist services. [Refer]
The Dementia Assessment and Referral collection was retired as a CQUIN collection at the start of April 2016 but has been retained in the standard contract as a mandatory submission for acute trusts. The desired level of performance is at least 90% on each part of the indicator. Data are not collected from community trusts or CCGs.
The summary results for the current period and comparison with the previous period are presented in the tables below.
Monthly Publication – January 2020
Data Returns
| December 2019 | January 2020 | |
| Total number of returns submitted by NHS trusts providing acute funded care | 134 | 132 |
| Number of nil returns (these are excluded from the results presented below) | 4 | 2 |
Data by Total Patients
| December 2019 | January 2020 | |
| % of patients aged 75 and over admitted as an emergency for more than 72 hours who were initially identified or given case finding for potential dementia | 81.2% | 81.5% |
| % of patients initially identified or found as potentially having dementia who were further appropriately assessed | 91.4% | 91.4% |
| % of patients whose assessment outcome was positive or inconclusive who were referred for specialist services
|
95.9% | 95.7% |
Data by Acute Trusts
| December 2019 | January 2020 | |
| % of trusts achieving at least 90% in carrying out initial identification (using case finding) for potential cases of dementia amongst patients aged 75 and over who were admitted as an emergency for more than 72 hours | 56.9%
(74 Trusts) |
58.5%
(76 Trusts) |
| % of trusts achieving at least 90% in carrying out further appropriate assessments
|
70.0%
(91 Trusts) |
71.5%
(93 Trusts) |
| % of trusts achieving at least 90% in referring on to specialist services
|
70.8%
(92 Trusts) |
70.0%
(91 Trusts) |
| % of trusts achieving at least 90% in all three measures | 40.0%
(52 Trusts) |
40.8%
(53 Trusts) |
The full data tables and the return guidance can be found on the NHS England website: