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Nurses help design 'home from home' for dementia patients and their families

A lead dementia nurse has described the benefit of her hospital’s family support rooms which she helped introduce.
family support room

Nurses have helped design new 'home from home' style hospital rooms for dementia patients and their families.


A dementia-friendly family support room at Pinderfields Hospital.

The brightly-decorated family support rooms on elderly care wards at Pinderfields Hospital in Wakefield come complete with comfortable chairs and pull-down beds so families can stay overnight and be closer to loved ones with dementia, or those in their final days.

An open visiting policy means families can stop by at any time. Overnight kits containing toiletries and a toothbrush are supplied by staff.

Lead dementia nurse Anita Ruckledge said: ‘We wanted to create an area that afforded dignity and compassion for people who are vulnerable, or at at end of life – people who need extra support from their loved ones.'

She added that the rooms have been designed to be dementia-friendly.

Ms Ruckledge said: ‘For patients living with dementia it's important they are oriented to time and place, so we have things like large clocks with calendars that are painted bright red so they are noticeable.’

One of the rooms has been named the reminiscence room – featuring a nostalgic 60s theme mural and memory tree – which is a place for families and patients to talk and share memories.

Senior ward sister Jessica Child added: ‘We’ve done this with our hearts really, and gone from there.’

Further information

Video of family support rooms at Pinderfields Hospital 

 

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