Dementia patients at Wolverhampton care home to benefit from 'ground-breaking' therapy

Wolverhampton's Sunrise of Tettenhall will take part in the 12-month dementia trial led by the University of Exeter.

It will see carers receive new training to help residents better achieve everyday goals and maintain their lifestyle.

Jackie Pool, director of Memory Care at Sunrise Senior Living UK, said: "We are absolutely delighted to be working closely with the University of Exeter and trialling this ground-breaking technique, which will enable residents at our Sunrise homes, who have a form of dementia, to live better, more enriched lives.

"There are so many proven benefits to offering cognitive rehabilitation and therapy in dementia care and we look forward to testing out these methods and reporting the results.

"This 12-month trial is just one of the many initiatives that we as an organisation are implementing, as part of our ongoing enriched memory care programme that will allow residents living with dementia to further improve quality of life and live well for longer.”

Carers at the Wergs Road home will receive training in goal-orientated cognitive rehabilitation as part of the trial.

They will then work with care home residents to help them reach their goals such remaining independent, staying socially connected, managing daily tasks better or staying safe.

A number of cognitive rehabilitation sessions will be delivered to people with dementia over the coming months, with hopes of reaching their goals.

The sessions could see them explore how to use household appliances or mobile phones, developing reminders to remember their keys and purse, improving their ability to engage in conversation or focussing on challenges including withdrawing money safely from a cashpoint.

Project manager Dr Krystal Warmoth, of the University of Exeter, said: "Our research has shown that cognitive rehabilitation can help people achieve the goals that matter most to them.

"This is essential in demonstrating that dementia is not an inevitable decline in all areas, and in providing people with the simple tools to live as well as possible with the condition. We’re excited to roll this out, so more people can benefit.”

The trial comes after the Alzheimer’s Society funded university researchers to roll out the therapy following a successful study.

The study involving 475 people - funded by the National Institute for Health Research and supported by Alzheimer’s Society - found that people who took part in the therapy showed a significant improvement in the areas they had identified as a concern after 10-week sessions and 'top-up' sessions.