Jeremy Hunt awards shares of multi-million pound fund to create dementia friendly environments

Jeremy Hunt has awarded shares of a £50m fund to health trusts and local authorities to help them create dementia friendly environments.

The Health Secretary recently revealed details of the 116 successful bids at Guy’s and St Thomas’ Foundation Trust, which will receive £955,490 to fund its ‘Designing the Dementia Journey – a holistic approach to the environment for people with dementia’ as part of the Government’s pilot to showcase the best examples of dementia friendly settings.

Announcing the projects, Mr Hunt said: “There is little doubt that our home and work environment has an important impact upon our day-to-day lives, and our care environment is no exception.

“We can encounter any number of places and spaces in one day, and yet for someone with advanced dementia even walking from one room to another can be difficult. This pilot scheme will form an important first step towards driving better care environments for people with dementia.”

One of the local authorities to benefit from the funding is the Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead Council, which has been awarded £847,000 to upgrade 17 residential and nursing homes and two day centres. The cash will see the creation of reminiscence resources and pods, such as 1950’s livings rooms and pubs, as well as the introduction of large clocks to help with orientation and improvements to accessibility for wheelchair users.

Councillor David Coppinger, cabinet member for adult services and health, is “very excited” about the project. He said: “We want all homes to be centres of best practice, where residents and service users will feel at home, comfortable in their surroundings and where everything around them will help reduce agitation and enable them to be happier and more independent.

“Our bid to the Department of Health was one of only 74 out of 259 to be selected from councils across the country. We are very excited by this success and believe our comprehensive improvement plan really will make a positive difference and bring about consistently high standards in the care environment.”

Milton Keynes Council has also been awarded a share of the fund. It has received £345,000 to help support a number of projects across the town, including work carried out at a variety of specialist dementia care homes.

Following the announcement, Councillor Debbie Brock, cabinet lead for health and social care, said: “This is great news for dementia care in Milton Keynes and shows the commitment we have to improving care and support services for local people. With this project and ongoing service redesign we are committed to working with partners and Government to improve support for people with dementia and their carers living in Milton Keynes.”

Other organisations benefiting from the fund includes Wiltshire Council, Norfolk and Suffolk NHS Foundation Trust and Leicester City Council.