EAST Lancashire’s hospitals have been given £1million to improve dementia care by making ‘simple changes’ to their wards and waiting areas.

The Your Home In Hospital scheme, which is being implemented at the Royal Blackburn and Burnley General hospitals, was one of 30 ‘pioneering’ projects in the North West to receive a Government grant yesterday.

Funding was awarded to hospitals which demonstrated how practical changes to the patient environment, such as lighting, floor coverings and distinctive signage, could help improve patients’ condition.

Cluttered ward layouts and poor signage in hospitals were cited as the top reasons for causing confusion and distress in people with dementia in research conducted by The King’s Fund.

East Lancashire Hosptials NHS Trust has been awarded £950,000 to expand its project and make further improvements.

Associate medical director John Dean said: “This is an exciting initiative, and shows dementia is being prioritised at the highest level.

“Projects so far have demonstrated that relatively small interventions, such as changes to lighting, floor coverings and improved way-finding, can have a significant impact.

“This is in addition to screening all patients over 75 to identify those who have dementia so that the appropriate care can be given to them and their carers and working with our partner organisations across East Lancashire and Blackburn with Darwen to implement the dementia strategy.”

A spokesman for the Alzheimer’s Society in East Lancashire said: “The effect an unfamiliar hospital or care home environment has on the wellbeing of a person with dementia is very often underestimated.

“Investment in pioneering projects that will create dementia-friendly environments within these care settings will play a vital part in helping to improve the care hospitals or care homes are able to provide.”