The Department of Nursing at the Faculty of Health Sciences, the Department of Gerontology and Dementia Studies at the Faculty for Social Wellbeing, the Maltese Association of Gerontology and Geriatrics (MAGG) and the Malta Dementia Society (MDS), presented to the Rector an outcome report for the hospital management following the seminar ‘Dementia-friendly hospitals – a myth or reality?’ that was held on the 6th of September 2022. Over hundred participants attended this seminar to hear international and local experts in the field of dementia care. It also highlighted the work of years of local research on dementia care carried out in hospital settings.

Currently in Malta there are around 7500 persons living with dementia: with a number of these persons requiring acute hospital care at some point in time during the disease trajectory. Indeed, a local study, found that up to 60% of older persons aged 70+ who were admitted in acute medical wards, had some form of cognitive impairment. Moreover, several local research studies that were carried out in Maltese hospitals, provided empirical evidence of the unmet needs of hospital patients and their family members who happen to have cognitive impairment.

The report will be distributed to senior managers of acute, post-acute and mental hospitals who run these hospitals and other services such as community services that support persons living with dementia and their family. They are also intended to policy makers in health and social care who develop national strategies and who set the agenda for the development of new services in local hospitals and in the community.