Via Department of Health

The Department of Health has announced dedicated funding of up to £50 million available to NHS trusts and local authorities, working in partnership with care providers, to help tailor hospitals and care homes to the needs of people with dementia.

The successful projects will begin from April 2013 and will involve people with dementia, their families and carers, to make sure the designs meet their needs.

The projects will form part of a national pilot to showcase the best examples of dementia friendly care environments. The lessons learnt from the projects will advise local Health and Wellbeing Boards on how to create better environments for dementia care.

The criteria for applying for funding and the deadline for receipt of applications will be announced shortly. Evidence from recent research undertaken by the King’s Fund shows that dementia friendly design features might include:

• hi-tech sensory rooms using lighting, smells and sound to stimulate people’s senses
• large photos of local scenes from the past to prompt people’s memories
• specially adapted outside space to prevent people from wandering, by helping them keep busy and active with activities such as gardening
• technology such as day/night clocks and controllable mood lighting to emulate day and night, which can help with sleep patterns, orientation and safe movement
• calming colours, non-reflective surfaces, large-print signs and the creation of zones to help people know where they are and find their way back to their rooms

Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt said,

“You don’t need to be an expert to know sensitively designed spaces make all of us feel better – so we want people with dementia to be able to benefit from environments that are designed to meet their needs.

This is just part of meeting the growing challenge of dementia with improvements of every type, including better environments and treatment for those in care.”