Move from ward to home-style unit benefits dementia patients

CREATING a home-from-home environment for hospitalised dementia patients can significantly improve quality of life, research has found.

Greater levels of relaxation, improved sleep patterns and less need for restraint were among the benefits noted in a study of the effects of moving dementia patients from the traditional hospital ward into a customised dementia unit modelled on an old-style Irish country home.

The research, the first of its kind in an Irish context, was conducted at Mount Carmel Community Hospital, Clonakilty, Co Cork, where a 14-bed special care dementia unit opened over two years ago. Existing hospital wards were transformed into bedrooms and living space redesigned to reflect a patient’s home rather than traditional hospital accommodation. Typical shop fronts in Clonakilty were painted on corridor walls in an effort to recreate the world patients were familiar with.