Experience of care home residents with P arkinson's disease: Reason for admission and service use

Aim The care needs of people with P arkinson's disease ( PD ) are poorly understood. We aimed to investigate the factors that precipitate entry to institutional care, and on‐going care needs once in care, within a representative cohort of community‐dwelling people with PD . Method All people with idiopathic PD , P arkinson's plus syndromes and vascular parkinsonism under the care of the N orthumbria H ealthcare NHS F oundation T rust PD service who were living in care homes on 1 J anuary 2013 were included. Disease severity ( H oehn and Y ahr stage) and demographic data were collected. Admissions to hospital over the previous 2 years and in the year before institutional care admission were documented. Results A total of 90 patients (51 females) with a mean age of 81.3 years were included. During care home stay, the median number of emergency department attendances, the median number of hospital admissions and the median length of stay for those admitted per year were significantly lower than before care home admission. Both before care home admission and during care home stay, falls were the most common diagnoses in people attending emergency departments, with 32 of 65 (49.2%) admissions before and 34 of 59 (57.6%) admissions during care home stay having falls recorded as a cause of attendance. Conclusions Hospital attendances and admissions were relatively common, even after institutional care home placement. Events precipitating admission, such as falls, might be preventable. PD nurse specialists could be an effective way to help train staff in homes where someone is known to have PD . Geriatr Gerontol Int 2014; 14: 947–953.