HEALTH chiefs are celebrating almost a year since the successful introduction of dementia champions in Swindon, to support patients with additional needs and the nurses caring for them on the wards.

With a continuous rise in the number of dementia sufferers in Swindon, which reached more than 2,000 last year, many elderly residents admitted to hospital for illness or to receive surgery are now found to have the condition.

This created the need for a new approach to care and to ensure patients’ additional needs are met every step of the hospital stay.

Following successful pilots in two care homes for people with dementia, Whitbourne House and Fessey House care homes, social enterprise SEQOL recruited three dementia champions for the Swindon Intermediate Care Centre, which it runs at the Great Western Hospital.

“Just in SwICC, 60/70 per cent of patients have cognitive damage on the wards,” said Rachel Green, SwICC’s Forest Ward matron.

“Dementia has always been there but because of the ageing population the number is getting higher and higher.

“The change of environment for a patient with dementia can be very frightening. As soon as you take someone with dementia out of their environment they are confused and frightened.”

Dementia champion Claire Williams’s role is far reaching. From supporting staff and teaching them techniques to calm patients and keep them busy to liaising with families and easing their own concerns, no two days are the same.

“We act as advocates for patients with dementia when they are in hospital and for their families,” said the rehab assistant. “My role is about making staff aware of what they can use. We have to see the person, not the dementia. It’s been very good. People have been open to new ideas and ways of working. It’s been very rewarding.”