Table 1.

Themes emerging from interviews with family carers of people with dementia

Category	Theme
The person with dementia	Physical and mental health problems
	Stage of dementia
	Distress behaviours
	Previously expressed wishes
	Current perceptions and wishes
	Quality of life
Family carers	Physical and mental health problems
	Exhaustion
	Own experiences of hospital
	Judgements of benefit of admission and treatment
	Relationship with the person with dementia
	Relationship with healthcare professionals
Communication with professionals	Level of trust
	Accurate information
	Ease and amount of individualised contact
	Judgment of professionalism
	Attitudes towards older people and those with dementia
	Convergence in expectations about outcomes
Treatment	Medical and nursing care
	Basic hygiene needs
	Feeding and cups of tea
	Comfort needs and timely response
	Number of invasive procedures and necessity for them
	Medication, sedation and pain control
	Restraint
	Multiple bed moves
	End-of-life transitions
Family and friends	Geography of family
	Ease of access to hospital
	Advocacy network
	Tensions between members of family and friends
	Charities for support
Systems	Bed moves and ward transfers
	‘Four hour wait’ target in emergency department*
	Signage in emergency department
	Visiting times
	Treatment and advocacy policies

* Government policy that patients attending the emergency department should be assessed, treated and discharged or admitted to a ward within four hours of arrival.