Gloucestershire hospital opens £4.5m dementia support ward

A hospital has opened a new £4.5m ward for dementia patients.

Gloucestershire Royal Hospital (GRH) has opened its Gallery Wing; a specialist care unit for the elderly with complex needs.

With colour-coded beds and specific flooring to reduce confusion for anyone with cognitive difficulties, it hopes to be "the very best" in dementia care.

The development is part of a £100m cash injection into Cheltenham General and Gloucestershire Royal hospitals.

The new ward boasts four four-bedded bays, eight side rooms, dedicated en-suites, a new lift as well as a new staff room, a pantry for cooking and cleaning and dedicated storage.

The ward is also kitted out with new furniture, bedside USB portals for electronic devices and the latest technology to monitor patients.

Beds have been replaced with ones of a much higher standard.

The development is part of a wider building works improvement programme which started last year and has already seen a new £6.5m radiology department re-open in Cheltenham and a new £1m medical same day emergency care unit open at GRH.

Medical director, Professor Mark Pietroni said the ward will "provide the very best facilities and specialist care" to give patients "the best opportunity to live as independently as possible."

Dr Sangeeta Kulkarni, consultant geriatrician, added: "There has been a great deal of care and thought gone into how the ward has been built so that it best suits the needs of our patients."

Examples of this include colour coded bays meaning patients can navigate their way back to their beds with ease and the use of matt flooring, as shiny, reflective floors can disorientate those with dementia.

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