Shedding light on dementia

A revolutionary new guide to optimising the care environment for people with dementia has been launched on Wednesday 06 December 2006, 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.'

For more information, contact Hannah Clack, Alzheimer's Society press office.

Notes for editors

About the guide

• Interviews with the author are available on request. Photos are also available.
• The guide will be available from the Alzheimer's Society for £20.
• The guide can be used in conjunction with national minimum standards and with health and safety regulations.
• The book is divided into separate sections covering general principles such as lighting, colour and signage, the internal care environment and each individual room and the external care environment.

About the Society

• The Alzheimer's Society is the UK's leading care and research charity for people with dementia and their carers.
• Over 750,000 people in the UK have dementia. More than half have Alzheimer's disease.
• Dementia affects one in 20 people over the age of 65 and one in five over the age of 80.
• There are 18,500 people in the UK under the age of 65 with dementia.
• For information and advice on Alzheimer's disease or other forms of dementia call the Alzheimer's Society national helpline on 0845 300 0336.