More care homes for people with dementia needed

The number of people with dementia in the UK is expected to increase from 850,000 to a million by 2025, according to the Alzheimer’s Society.

Gail Browne, the charity’s operations manager for North Yorkshire, said the need for suitable homes was becoming more urgent as the number increased. The charity favours people remaining in their own home but when that is not possible, she said, suitable care homes are needed.

“I think there needs to be more investment in care homes that are dementia friendly in Yorkshire and across the country as a whole,” she said.

She added: “There seems to be less investment in housing as you go further north which probably extends to dementia friendly housing also. Dementia Friendly Housing is obviously a specialist market but with dementia increasing as predicted there is likely to be growing demand for this type of housing in the future.”

Leanne Owen, managing quantity surveyor at Faithful and Gould in Leeds who specialises in project managing dementia-friendly schemes, added: “A lot of dementia care work is being built down south at the moment, particularly with private providers because there are better returns.

“Most of the work that is being done in Yorkshire is within the affordable housing sector.”

Faithful and Gould is about to project manage a new complex of 129 extra care apartments and 44 care suites in York after the council granted planning permission. The Joseph Rowntree Housing Trust project will see Red Lodge care home in New Earswick knocked down and replaced.

“It is a big deal to have that size of scheme in Yorkshire,” Ms Owen said. “We are targeting dementia design which will make it inclusive for everyone whether or not they have dementia.”

Design features include making sure toilets are clearly visible and easily accessible, painting the walls of different floors in different colours and laying plain carpets instead of patterned.

“If planned from the outset, a lot of these things don’t have a huge cost impact,” Ms Owen said. “We are trying to encourage architects to think about things from day one. You can make a brilliant building without having to pay a fortune.”

There is currently no national standard for dementia design, something Ms Owen would like to see introduced. “Particularly for public buildings,” she said. “All public buildings should be taking steps to become dementia-friendly.”

PANEL

Leanne Owen was the winner of the national RICS Young Surveyor of the Year Awards 2015 for her work with dementia design.

When she was tasked with delivering over 2,000 homes for people with dementia, she became a Dementia Friend of the Alzheimer’s Society. She then attended the University of Stirling’s dementia design school to learn more about the impact of design on dementia sufferers. She is now training to become a dementia champion and train other people.

The deadline for the 2016 RICS Matrics Young Surveyor of the Year Awards is on July 29. To enter, visit rics.org/youngsurveyor