BACKGROUND
Older people are admitted to acute hospitals more commonly and have longer lengths of stay than younger.
While people aged over 65 constituted 12.1% of the Australian population, they accounted for 48% of all hospital days in 2001. During the same year, the mean length of stay for a female patient between 40‑45 years was 2.8 days, as compared with 10.9 days for a female patient above 85 years. Not only are older people larger consumers of health care, there is also ample evidence that older people admitted to general acute hospital care face considerable physical and psychological stressors, and are at an increased risk of adverse events, psychological and behavioural symptoms, general deconditioning, falls, loss of mobility and functional decline. In addition, as many as 33‑66% of older people receiving hospital care are estimated to suffer from cognitive impairment and this poses additional challenges for hospitals as people with dementia have increased needs to experience safety, calmness and familiarity
in their environments.