A number of dementia patients in hospitals have been given medication without it being part of their care plan, a report has found.

The Mental Welfare Commission has just published its first report into how dementia sufferers are cared for in community hospitals, after visiting 287 patients in 56 smaller hospitals across the country.

Just over a quarter of patients seen by the commission had medication prescribed for them "if required" if they were to become agitated or distressed.

However, more than half of this group did not have a care plan for the use of these drugs.

The report also highlighted that "more work could be done" to make hospitals "dementia friendly" - with five of the wards said to be "very or fairly unpleasant".

The commission saw 57 patients who they felt should have a care plan in place to deal with such behaviour, but who did not have one.

However, 30 of these patients were being prescribed medication to be given "as required" for agitation, the commission stated.

The report stressed: "Where 'if required' medication is prescribed for agitation, we would also expect to see a care plan which sets out other interventions staff should use to minimise a patient's stress and agitation."

The commission also highlighted that when patients are discharged home, about a fifth need support to be put in place, "but in about three-quarters of these cases, delays were caused by the need to organise support".

Often patients had been receiving support at home before being admitted to hospital, but this was automatically cancelled after a short period, the commission found.

Executive director Kate Fearnley said: "We were pleased to see that, generally, carers and patients were positive about care and treatment, but we are concerned that there is a lack of focus on patients' needs related to their dementia.

"Over half the patients we saw had been in a community hospital for a month or longer, and this means that people with dementia are often spending long periods in an environment that may not be dementia-friendly.

"Care plans were thorough in relation to physical care but only a few said how a patient was to be supported with personal care, and how they would be encouraged to maintain their skills and independence as much as possible."

The commission found while hospital staff could usually call on more specialist help, not enough employees had been given dementia training.

Ms Fearnley stated: "The key point is that these aren't dementia-specialist services, but about a quarter of their patients have dementia, so we think more attention needs to be paid to their needs."