North East care home group opens 'ground breaking' dementia unit

North East based group Wellburn Care Homes has opened a new specialist dementia care home in Shipton, York specifically designed for people living with dementia.

The complete transformation is the result of more than two years of work and in excess of £1.5m invested. This "ground breaking" project has been built specifically to offer services for people living with early onset dementia.

St Catherine’s Care Home had special guests for the grand opening which included the Sheriff of York, Suzie Mercer, who officially cut the ribbon and Care England’s chief executive, Professor Martin Green.

Professor Green said: “This is a ground breaking project, developed specifically to offer support services for people with early onset dementia, and the partnership with Dementia Forward will ensure that St Catherine’s is going to transform the lives of people with early onset dementia.

“I have no doubt St Catherine’s is a state of the art facility that will become a regional, as well as a local centre of excellence to support people living with dementia, and I was honoured to be at the grand open day, to pay tribute to the fantastic work done by Wellburn and I want to commend Rachel and her team for the care and support they offer and for the expertise in dementia care which has been developed over many years.”

The modern dementia specialist care home, with state of the art facilities including ‘The Manor’ which is a separate facility for younger residents living with young onset dementia, will offer support to those living with dementia, whilst furthering the understanding and raising awareness of the condition.

The transformation is the result of months of research, development, planning and design of specialist dementia care before a single brick was laid.

The grand opening was an opportunity to highlight how different aspects can help those living with dementia. Guests were allowed to explore different areas which included touch points which had a subtle approach to dementia.

Tours of the sensory garden were particularly popular, as well as a treasure hunt for children, as each item on the list introduced different aspects of dementia, such as memory, smell, sounds in a very child friendly way.

Wellburn’s chairman Rachel Beckett said: “It’s been a long journey to get here, but standing here, with such a fantastic turnout, amongst so many friends and guests from our local community, I just feel a huge amount of pride.

“We’ve had such incredible support from so many people throughout the journey, and all of my staff have been exceptional. The opening marks a new, exciting chapter in the history of St Catherine’s, Wellburn Care homes and dementia care in the region. The future looks bright and we’re looking forward to getting on with what we do best, caring.”

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