LARGE murals depicting familiar beauty spots and local landmarks – such as Bettys Tea Rooms, the Cow and Calf rocks and Bolton Abbey – feature in a new £2.5million Dementia Assessment Unit officially opened this week.

The unit, at Lynfield Mount Hospital in Bradford, will welcome patients from across Craven, Airedale and the city from today.

Bradford District Care NHS Foundation Trust designed the 22 en-suite single-bedded DAU in line with best practice and sought advice from international experts. This included dementia design expert, Annie Pollock, architect and director of landscape design at the University of Stirling’s dementia services development centre.

Annie said: “This is an amazing space.

"It’s vitally important people who are acutely unwell with dementia can be assessed in the best possible environment. Practical and familiar elements, such as clocks, soft fabric and outdoor spaces, all contribute to making the patient feel as comfortable and as at home as possible.”

As well as the reminiscence wall murals, which feature in the unit's decor, additional dementia-friendly features include en-suite bathroom doors that can fold back and fix into the wall, allowing sight of the toilet from the bed. Colours and fabric have been selected that do not reflect or cause glare, the floor has been protected to absorb noise and there is clear visual contrast between floors and walls.

The building is circular in shape so none of the patients can get lost, and also has wider corridors so they can have assistance from staff. It includes a quiet lounge for patients’ families to relax and an activity room for patients to meet up and take part in one-to-one therapy sessions.

Patients stay at the state-of-the-art unit for three months until they are given a relocation package to other sites, which may include nursing homes.

Relatives and carers of patients currently receiving care at the Trust’s current Dementia Assessment Unit on Ward 24 at Airedale General Hospital joined an open day on Tuesday and welcomed the new design.

Paula Whittaker, whose father will move to the ward this week, officially opened the unit. She said: “The unit looks fab. The mural of Haworth Main Street brings lots of wonderful memories back for my family.

"It’s somewhere both my mum and dad enjoyed. I’m really impressed with the space – it’s light, airy and modern.”

The award winning multi-disciplinary team from Ward 24 will continue to care for people acutely unwell with dementia, in this calming, dementia-friendly environment.

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