Cracks in the pathway

During 2013 and 2014, we carried out a thematic review of the care people living with dementia receive as they moved between care homes and acute hospitals.

Overall we found more good care than poor care in the care homes and hospitals our inspectors visited. But the quality of care for people living with dementia varies greatly. It is likely that someone living with dementia will experience poor care at some point while living in a care home or being treated in hospital.

What we found

We inspected care in 129 care homes and 20 hospitals across England, looking at four areas:

• how people's care needs were assessed
• how care was planned and delivered
• how providers worked together
• how the quality of care was monitored

As part of our inspections, we asked people and their families to tell us about their experiences of care and what was most important to them.

• In about 29% of care homes and 56% of hospitals we inspected, we found assessments were not comprehensive in identifying all of a person's care needs.
• In about 34% of care homes and 42% of hospitals, we found aspects of variable or poor care in relation to people's mental health, emotional and social needs.

We found that the variation in how care is assessed, planned, delivered and monitored by hospitals and care homes puts people living with dementia at risk of experiencing poor care.

Read the inspection reports

Browse the full list to see the services we inspected.