Dementia Care and the Arts

Summary:

During 2014 Yeovil District Hospital NHS Foundation Trust Dementia Care Team has consistently worked to improve the acute care environment for patients experiencing dementia.

Projects have included a ward redesign and rebuild, a programme of creative sessions and a range of collaborative partnerships to facilitate a more positive experience for patients, carers and staff. Rather than focus on any one single project we wished to put forward for consideration for the AHSW 2015 Prize the collective approaches we have taken to positively influence the care and ethos within the organisation when caring for people with dementia. In other words, by using the arts to promote well-being and enhance healing in our organisation we have championed quality and focused on the good experiences we can provide for our patients.

Demonstrating the impact enables us to challenge preconceptions and embed the ethos that good clinical care must include the arts. Yeovil is a medium sized District General Hospital and the Arts Coordinator and the Dementia Care Team work productively together across other departments focusing on design, artwork and activities to promote wellbeing, each project results in the evolution of further projects. For example building on the knowledge gained from the ward redesign work has been facilitated in other clinical areas to identify achievable interventions such as the commissioning and sighting of new artworks, colour schemes and signage. Work has also commenced to convert an area of outside space into a therapeutic garden which will be particularly suitable for patients with dementia to visit.