Shedding light on dementia

A revolutionary new guide to optimising the care environment for people with dementia has been launched by the Alzheimer's Society.

The guide, "Alzheimer's Society guide to the dementia care environment", provides instrumental guidance and advice on how care home providers can improve the quality of life and care for people with dementia by following simple design rules and principles.

Actor Tony Robinson whose parents had dementia praises the guide in the foreword saying,

'This guide will be enormously beneficial to care managers and staff. It includes suggestions on how to compensate for a person's disability, how to maximise their independence, minimise risk and benefit their sense of well being.'

Author Jackie Pool an occupational therapist specialising in dementia care, says,

'75 percent of all care homes residents have dementia. I hope the guide will be a revolutionary new tool in influencing the design of new and existing care homes as well as raising awareness of how people can make the most of any environment to help people with dementia receive the best care.'

The guide covers both the physical and social environment, and how they affect a person's emotional well-being. It describes how the environment can be used to help the person with dementia in different ways and explores how care workers can use such features to help people with dementia engage with the physical and social world.

Neil Hunt, chief executive of the Alzheimer's Society says,

'People with dementia often have trouble making sense of the world around them. That is why design is so important. This guide is will help people with dementia navigate their way though this world with less difficulty and more dignity.'