Describing his hospital admission last summer, Andy told the Mirror<\/a> : \u201cI had fallen outside the house. I actually passed out, so I couldn’t break my fall, so I actually went down onto my head and face and it was a mess.<\/p>\n Andy, who has just become a grandfather, insists it is possible to live well with dementia(Image: Gareth Everett\/Huw Evans Agency)<\/p>\n READ MORE: \u2018Go back to bed\u2019 – how NHS hospitals treat \u2018captive\u2019 dementia patients revealed<\/a>READ MORE: Dementia 63% surge – smart homes and how we could live independently for longer<\/a><\/p>\n \u201cI was taken in on a stretcher then they put me on to a bed and put the sides up. I wasn’t allowed out of bed for the whole week that I was in the hospital. I was only allowed to use disposable bottles for urine. There was no TV, nothing. All I could do was watch people walking past my cubicle.\u201d<\/p>\n While initially in A&E he says an \u201cout of control\u201d drunk woman came into his cubicle and had to be restrained by staff who wrestled with her on the floor. Andy was then admitted to an acute ward and says he \u201cslept the whole time I was there\u201d.<\/p>\n Andy said: \u201cThey kept bringing me my medication in the little white plastic containers. I said \u2018this is more medication than I normally take, what are you giving me?\u2019 The nurse said \u2018oh I’ll go and find out and I’ll come back to you\u2019. But they never did. I only had one meal in all the days that I was there. I told them I hadn’t eaten today and they just said: \u2018that’s because you’re sleeping all the time\u2019. They weren’t very nice about it.<\/p>\n \u201cI said \u2018well I’m diabetic, I have to eat\u2019 so they agreed to go and find me a sandwich but I was made to feel like it was my fault because I was asleep. Looking back I was clearly being sedated. My visitors came to see me and I slept through most of the visits. It was all a bit of a blur really.\u201d<\/p>\n The landmark review by University of West London looked at how dementia patients are cared for during an urgent or unplanned hospital admission such as after a fall or when suffering a sudden illness or injury. Such admissions of dementia patients make up between 25% and 50% of all acute hospital admissions. The 18 month study observed nine acute wards across six NHS hospital trusts chosen to be representative of the country as a whole. Some 168 patients and medics agreed to participate in over 1,000 detailed interviews.<\/p>\n The report said that if dementia patients try to leave the bed forcibly or push a member of staff they can be labelled \u201caggressive in their medical notes. This can lead to social care packages being withdrawn, meaning they can never go back to living independently at their home or return to their care home.<\/p>\n Andy said he could understand why agitated patients confined to their beds throughout their hospital stay could become aggressive and try to leave. He said: \u201cI didn’t understand why I was being confined to bed. If patients feel like they’ve been kidnapped or they’re being imprisoned because of the way in which they’re being subtly restrained, I can fully appreciate that it adds to their agitation, which could make them \u2018aggressive\u2019.\u201d<\/p>\n![\"Andy\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/0_-.jpg\")
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