Five houses in The Russets introduce a new approach for improving the quality of care for people living with dementia. Each house combines an innovative care service and a specially created living environment, designed to support the individual needs of people living with dementia, including these who are still quite active. Encore, Discovery, Crispin, Bramley and Ashmead have created a unique opportunity to achieve something quite different in the care of people living with dementia, including complex dementia.
Care has been taken with every aspect of the environment to make it homely relaxed and designed in a way to encourage independence amongst the residents. The five bungalows are each split into two, creating smaller communities of just 7-8 people. Each has a quiet room, communal kitchen, where anyone is free to help prepare food, two dining areas and two sitting areas, each with a fireplace. Simple visual cues are an integral part of the decoration, helping residents identify their surroundings and encouraging them to explore other places – neighbouring bungalows, the clubhouse or the sensory gardens that lie at the heart of the development.
24-hour care is focussed on the needs of each individual resident and is flexible, with few routines, so that residents have the space and choice to live their lives as freely and fully as possible, just as they might choose to do in their own homes. Friends and family can also visit whenever they choose. The result is an environment that reassures, enables freedom and provides an opportunity for residents to move around and find fulfilment in the different environments and daily activities.
If you’re interested in our dementia care services, you might want to make use of some or all of the following resources:
- For an informal chat and to book onto an open day, call our care homes admissions team (Phoebe Slade or Gloria Chambers) on 0117 949 4735.
- Click here to preview and order a free copy of our DVD ‘Porridge at Midnight’.
- Visit our ‘Positive About Dementia’ web site, for an insight into daily life in our dementia services.
