bed shortages mean dementia patients with psychiatric symptoms are admitted to medical wards
- Written by Dr Cindy Towns, Senior Lecturer in General Medicine and Geriatrics, University of Otago

New Zealand’s mental health crisis is well documented in the government’s 2018 inquiry, He Ara Oranga, which shows one in five people experience mental illness or significant mental distress.
However, an almost singular focus on care of young people obscures the psychiatric needs of older adults.
Failure to account for these...