Emergency admissions

Almost two in three people living with dementia (65%) used the emergency department to enter their first hospitalisation, and during their hospitalisation most people were categorised as having an urgent or “emergency” admission (90%), rather than “elective”, meaning treatment could not be delayed by 24 hours due to serious risk of illness of death.

Community-dwellers were less likely to enter the emergency department (62%) or to have an urgent admission (86%) compared with aged care residents, people who then transitioned into residential aged care and people who died during their hospitalisation or within 7-days (for each group, over 66% entered the emergency department and over 92% had an urgent admission) (Table S1.6 and Table S1.7).

Figure 6 Use of the emergency department to enter hospital and urgency of admission for people living with dementia

The figure is a bar chart and shows that community-dwellers were slightly less likely to use the emergency department to enter hospital or to have an urgent admission compared to aged care residents, people who transitioned to residential aged care, and people who died during their hospitalisation or within 7-days of discharge.

Source: AIHW NIHSI 2018–19, analysis of NIHSI.

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