A DISTURBING report last year by the Mental Welfare Commission revealed poor standards of care in some of Scotland’s long-term NHS wards for men and women with dementia.

While the Dignity and Respect study did highlight a few examples of good practice, it also found more than half of patients being treated in these units had not been outside for at least a month, while some spent their days in rooms where they could not even see through the windows.

Today a new report by the Commission again draws attention to the plight of the vulnerable elderly, revealing a significant rise in people over 65 being taken into hospital for compulsory psychiatric treatment.

While it is unclear exactly why this increase has occurred, it does raise concerns whether such men and women are being given the appropriate level of support and treatment in the community where their conditions could be addressed before they deteriorate so badly.

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