It’s not often that the content of TV programmes stays with me, but the recent BBC ‘Hospital’ series, following the fortunes of patients and staff at Imperial Trust’s hospitals in London, and ‘Granddad, dementia and me’ that I wrote about…
Tag: aggression
Reframing the reporting about violent older people in hospitals
Recently the BBC ran a story that over 75’s are responsible for 57% of physical assaults on NHS staff in hospitals. These assaults range from biting and pinching through to some of the most serious attacks that are recorded. In…
Sectioning people with dementia
Over the four years I’ve been writing this blog, I’ve met or been contacted by many families whose loved ones with dementia have been sectioned (detained in hospital without consent under the Mental Health Act). Sometimes the sectioning has occurred…
Turning the air blue
Many families who have a loved one living with dementia will know the moment only too well when a perfectly innocent greeting, question, conversation or even silence is broken by a swear word that prior to their loved one’s dementia…
Understanding aggression
Like so many dementia symptoms, aggression is often misunderstood, leading to inappropriate interventions. It is popular to portray people with dementia as angry and out of control, aggressive and unmanageable, frightening and dangerous. Extreme examples of aggression that lead to…
Ending the ‘chemical cosh’
One of the things I feel most passionately about in dementia care is the inappropriate use of antipsychotic medications. For many years these have been commonplace when doctors, nurses and care professionals have sought to quell the symptoms of dementia…
