Dear Margaret,
Not all dementia sufferers follow the same path. The disease in some sufferers takes a course which means that they have to have 24 hour, 1 to 1 supervision for most of the time. They also have, at times, to be confined to a room in which they cannot hurt themselves or others. They have to have very strong, immediate medication. They have to have specialist doctors at hand and very specialist nurses. They are a very grave danger both to themselves, to others and to any property surrounding them. They are not usually frail, elderly people but mobile, strong and often early onset dementia sufferers. There is no medication or treatment which can change the course of their disease.
These are extreme cases (but ones which I have myself witnessed). We also have sufferers who display such symptoms but who can be stabalised and greatly helped by medication, correct handling etc., and need to be placed on assessment wards so that this can be achieved.
In my experience EMI nursing homes/Specialist units are only capable of coping with residents who can show aggressive behaviour at times but whose agression can be managed by their staff. As far as I know, their staffing levels are not designed to cope with prolonged, extreme behaviour difficulties.
Perhaps my perspective is off balance because of my experiences but I am concerned that such sufferers are left to live out the rest of their lives in a sterile, hospital ward because there is no where else to put them.
We have come a long way since the lunatic asylums and barbaric practices of old, but the problem of how to allow such people to live out the rest of their lives in some form of comfort troubles me greatly.
xxTinaT