Sarah Waller CBE, RGN, FRSA, programme director at The King’s Fund’s Enhancing the Healing Environment (EHE) programme, examines the work undertaken to date, and still ongoing, to improve the care environment for people living with dementia.
At a time when estates and facilities budgets are tight, she argues that, as several successful King’s Fund projects completed to date show, good schemes, that can have a significant impact on the lives of dementia patients being cared for in healthcare facilities, need by no means ‘break the bank’.
The publication of the Royal College of Psychiatrists’ Report of the National Audit of Dementia Care in General Hospitals last December has brought a sharp and timely focus on the care of people with dementia, and the need for improvements in the physical environment of care. Through The King’s Fund’s Enhancing the Healing Environment (EHE) programme, 23 Trusts across England have been working to develop more ‘dementiafriendly’ hospital environments. This has required close partnership working between estates and facilities colleagues, clinical staff, patients, and carers, and has shown that it is possible to develop innovative, high-quality, value-for-money schemes that significantly improve the quality of care and the patient experience.
Why we need ‘dementiafriendly’ hospitals
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