Dementia Products – Feedback
Dementia Product Feedback
Below you will find feedback from care homes and hospitals in relation to our dementia products and environments.
Unbreakable blue plates and bowls
Royal Shrewsbury Hospital (RSH) and the Princess Royal Hospital (PRH) in Telford.
Karen Breese Clinical Nurse Specialist with the Dementia Team at the Shrewsbury and Telford Hospital NHS Trust which runs the RSH and PRH, said: “As a Trust, we feel that promoting design principles is part of our philosophy of care for people living with dementia. The blue crockery has been introduced for use on our wards to improve eating and nutritional intake.”
Dementia Cafe Mural
Bolton Hospital have revamped a room on their medical ward into the Bluebell café. That will be used for quiet time and / or distraction therapy with a programme of activities.
Kerry Lyons Admiral Nurse at Bolton Hospital commented: “Staff and patients alike love the changes – the installation of the room is part of our plans to continue to develop the Hospital in becoming a more Dementia-friendly environment.”
Door Cals
Find’s signage and door cals were introduced at Elmhurst, one lady was thrilled with her lilac door.
It was a colour she recognised and told staff she didn’t need a sign as she recognised her bedroom door simply by the unique colour.
Dementia Murals
Tees, Esk and Wear Valley NHS enhance the environment at Acomb Garth (York) my installing murals and furniture onto their ward.
“A 79.6% reduction in violent behaviour was more than we could have imagined, and the benefits don’t stop there. Lower levels of agitation and a stimulating environment both link to increased levels of exercise, improve appetite, reduce the risk of falls and can have a positive impact on sleep patterns too.”
Memory Boxes
A Manchester United scarf totally filled one memory box, which made it very easy for the resident to find his bedroom without help.
It was also a great talking point as staff knew he was a keen football supporter and the conversations helped to reduce the resident’s levels of distress.
Unbreakable Blue Dining Set
One resident became very agitated at mealtimes and often threw his plate in anger. When the care home introduced blue crockery, this resident could see the food on his plate and the agitation disappeared totally, enabling the resident to eat his dinner. This resident had seen other people were eating but thought his own plate was empty.
Bedroom Sign
A care home in Newcastle, a resident had been a security guard and spent all day patrolling the corridors. The home put an image of a security badge in the interchangeable bedroom sign and the resident recognised this as his bedroom/office
Dementia Café Mural
When the Café was introduced at Bruce Lodge, it was an instant hit with residents, visitors and staff alike. An individual, who visited the care home to carry out an assessment on a resident, complimented the Manager as she had been able to carry out a much better assessment in the friendly café environment than in someone’s bedroom.
Dementia Pub Mural
At Warmley House, Bristol, a dementia unit for men, has introduced murals to create a pub. The room is used in the evening for drinks prior to dinner, but also works well on a morning for breakfast – jus t the same at having a Wetherspoon’s breakfast!
Toilet Seat
With regards to our continued purchasing of your WC seat range, (The Bridgewood Trust) offered in both the blue and grey colours, I would recommend these seats to any person in charge of a public or care facility. When I first joined the trust, our maintenance team were regularly replacing toilet seats in our care homes. The toilet seats purchased both from regular retailers and directly from sanitaryware manufacturers proved simply not robust enough for the environment of our care facilities. Since installing find toilet seats, we haven’t had one toilet seat fail. This obviously is both beneficial in labour time replacing the seats plus the cost of repeatedly purchasing” off the shelf” toilet seats. We have now replaced all toilet seats with the toilet seats purchased from your company in our 15 sites.
Jigsaws
Places for People –
Find Memory Care transformed one of our unused rooms into a pub, which quickly became a very popular social space for our residents. As we wanted the area to be interactive and social, we included a range of activities, including Find’s 16-piece jigsaws. Every morning, the jigsaws are set out on coffee tables ready for use and everyone is completed by the end of the day.
Reminder frame
In the early stages of dementia, my mother-in-law struggled to remember small things on a daily basis. We purchased the reminder frame and she uses it regularly to prompt her to carry out daily tasks and to make a note of any appointment times. It has definitely helped her to maintain some independence and her confidence.
Throw & Tell Ball
When visiting a care home in Southport, I met a resident who had behavioural issues and therefore required 1:1 care. His Carer took the Throw & Tell Ball to trial it while I was on site. Within 10 minutes, the carer came into the office amazed by the results. She had found out very quickly that the resident loved liquorice all sorts. A great treat for him going forward as the information was included in his care plan.
Therapy Doll
Whilst visiting a care home, a female resident came into the office and saw our Therapy Doll and took a great interest in it. I passed her the doll and continued to take products out of my case. When I looked up, I realised something had happened as both members of staff were wide eyed, one wiping away a tear. When I asked if everything was ok, they told me that the lady was talking to the doll, and it was the first time in more than two years that the lady had managed to string more than a few words together – it was a very emotional moment
Dementia Door Cals
When the door Cals were installed at Athorpe Lodge, a husband and wife were residents, but due to his nursing needs, were in separate rooms. Using coloured Door Cals made it much easier for her to locate both rooms as her door was blue and her husbands was green. This reduced her anxiety levels and ensured her independence for much longer.
Throw & Tell Ball
It was in the lead up to Christmas and already an emotional time as residents were singing Christmas carols. I spent some time with a resident who didn’t interact easily. We were throwing the ball to each other and one of her questions related to wedding memories. My resident opened and told me about how her fiancé had been killed in a tragic accident many years before and how she had never found another person to love. She still had so many memories from those days, many were of the time they spent together. It was a lovely reminiscing opportunity.
Dementia Door Cals
When the Door Cals were introduced on the dementia unit in a care home in Rotherham, one resident would be heard say “first yellow door, first yellow door, first yellow door.” as she went down the corridor to find her bedroom without the need for support. She had a smile on her face when she found her room.
Therapy Doll
When visiting care homes, I have regularly seen the loving response the ladies have to the Therapy Doll and the smiles they bring to male residents, although men rarely interact with them. On one occasion, a man (with behavioural challenges) took an interest in the doll while it was being nursed by a female resident. He would not take the doll; however, he leant over and kissed the doll on the forehead and then sang it a lullaby. Going back to the days when he had been a young Dad, this was likely part of his evening ritual.