Distressed dementia patients don’t belong in hospital wards, but there are often no other options in Australia

‘It is sadly common to see people with BPSD in emergency departments, sent in by their family or care facility because their behaviours are beyond what they can manage, and there is nowhere else to go.’ Photograph: shapecharge/Getty Images/iStockphoto

Dementia brings us some of the most difficult questions we as individuals and society can ever face, questions about essential aspects of humanity. To help people living with dementia have the best lives possible, along with their carers, means we need to talk openly about suffering and distress.

While a lot of people think of dementia as simply forgetting, an estimated 60% to 90% of people with dementia will experience neuropsychiatric symptoms throughout their disease, usually as their cognitive impairment becomes more severe.