Finding our way around new surroundings is nothing unusual for most of us and is something we do not give a second thought. We notice the difference between different rooms and corridors and use signage to get from A to B and back again. Yet for people living with dementia, impaired memory, disorientation, and difficulty processing information even familiar surroundings can become hard to navigate and confusing.

You may be thinking dementia signage has been around for a long time and, has been implemented in all care facilities across the UK, but, this is not the case, there are still a lot of facilities out there that have the wrong type of signage.

Find Memory Care, the creator of the original and most widely used dementia-specific signage in the world, has helped many care facilities across the UK, by using the latest thinking on communication. Find’s signage will help to reduce confusion and aid daily orientation for people living with dementia.

To help you check if your facility has the right signage, Find has produced a quick and simple checklist below to help.

Are my signs dementia-friendly?

• Are signs placed at key decision points for someone who is at the building/area for the first time?
• Do doors exiting rooms feature ‘way out’ signage?
• Are the signs fixed to the doors they refer to? They should not be on adjacent surfaces if possible?
• Are bedrooms easily identifiable by personalised signage?
• Is the toilet signage highly distinguishable?
• Are glass doors clearly marked?
• Are your signs legible to all with pictures and words that are a different colour from the background?
• Are signs mounted correctly centred between 1.2 and 1.4m from the floor?
• Are signs durable and easy to clean?
• Fire-safe – All signs, should be tested to Class 1 or Class 0 or their equivalent. The use of laminated paper on walls is a fire risk and will allow any fire to spread more quickly.

Navigation

Have you had a good look round, have you thought about creating landmarks? Research shows that people with dementia use “landmarks” to navigate their way around. The more attractive and interesting the landmark (such as a mural) the easier it is to use it as a landmark.

Remember that good signage does not only aid the person with dementia but also decreases the dependency on staff, freeing up time for staff to help in other areas.

If you would like to find out more about our signage range, please contact us here.