Care villages offer a vision for addressing the UK's dementia challenge

Construction is underway in Warrington to transform an old brewery site into a state-of-the-art care village, which will consist of 18 independent living apartments for specialist nursing and dementia care needs.

The new village is costing £9.5m to develop and will be the latest addition to the Belong portfolio of care villages, which is part of CLS Care Services, and will be named Belong Warrington.

Expected to open in the summer of 2014, the facility will provide a welcome jobs boost to the local area, with more than 100 workers to be employed on the site.

It will be the fifth village from the care group to open in the North West, with Belong already operating sites in Macclesfield, Crewe, Wigan and Atherton.

Together with offering specialist care, the site design incorporates an extensive range of additions to help residents achieve a sense of community, these include a bistro, hair and beauty salon, exercise studio and function rooms, as well as the ability to host a number of events and activities.

Chief executive of CLS Care Services, Nick Dykes, led the turf-cutting ceremony to get work underway and commented: “Belong villages are not only designed to provide exceptional housing and care for their residents, they also provide a valuable resource at the heart of the community, offering members of the local community a range of facilities, activities, domiciliary care and day care.”

The commencement of work in Warrington comes in the same week that the Department of Health has announced it is to devote an exhibition hall at the Healthcare Innovation Expo, on 13 & 14 March, to showcasing a dementia care village design. In doing so, organisers hope to promote the benefits of community-style care in contributing to a more fulfilling life for adults diagnosed with conditions like Alzheimer’s.

Part of the Government’s ‘Dementia Challenge’, the exhibition, which is expected to welcome up to 10,000 delegates, will show how health innovations can be incorporated into care village life, such as dementia-friendly gardens.

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