Our Dementia and Delirium Team is based in Southport Hospital and covers both hospitals
Our team consists of
What do they do?
The team supports people living with dementia and/or experiencing a delirium during their hospital admission, as well as their carers and relatives and the staff caring for them.
We signpost and/or refer to community services as appropriate. Our team has developed an alert system within the hospital to ensure that people living with dementia are identified at the beginning of their patient journey, to ensure the appropriate support is offered to them, and any reasonable adjustments can be made to enhance their care during admission.
We provide dementia and delirium training to all staff, and offer this training to our colleagues in health and social care.
We are working towards becoming more dementia-friendly, and our team offers free Dementia Friends Information Sessions to staff. This is supported by the Alzheimer’s Society.
Looking to the future
We are making significant investments in Older People’s Care. We have an ageing population and our local area has a high number of people over 65 years old living here.
We are working on service improvements to further benefit people living with dementia and their families/carers, and those people experiencing delirium during hospital admission.
We are improving both our hospitals with ongoing refurbishment works, which will include dementia-friendly design elements.
We supply Hospital Passports to our patients and carers, so they can provide extra information about themselves that our staff might find helpful during their admission, e.g. what someone likes to eat.
Our team is working towards implementing a musical events calendar for patients, with many local groups generously offering their time and musical skills in exchange for a cup of tea!
We have a number of Pets as Therapy animals who prove very popular with patients, visitors and staff. We understand the benefits of having our furry friends with us when we are unwell and hope seeing our PAT animals gives our patients some comfort.
Environment. We aim to provide a dementia friendly environment by using visible signage, familiar artwork, appropriate flooring, and consider the needs of patients with dementia when the planning of refurbishments takes place.
Help us to help your loved one
John’s Campaign
John’s Campaign was founded in November 2014 . It comes from the simple belief that family carers should be welcomed as an essential part of patient care. John’s Campaign applies to all healthcare settings, and over 1,000 institutions have pledged their support—but there is a lot yet to be done.
We have pledged to support John’s Campaign, which means we support carers to stay with patients who have enhanced needs and require extra support. Please speak to our staff if you feel this would benefit you or your loved one.
We also offer Carer Cards to identify those carers who have requested to stay with their loved ones during their admission. Please ask our staff for more information.
We also supports carers to accompany their loved ones to theatre, as we know this can be a distressing time. We will support the carer to be present before and after the patient’s theatre visit.
We are signed up to the Dementia-Friendly Hospital Charter, which provides high-level principles of what a dementia-friendly hospital should look like and recommended actions hospitals can take to fulfil them.
Twiddle muffs: do you or your friends enjoy knitting?
We are grateful for any volunteers that would like to support “twiddle muffs” which aim to lessen agitation for people with dementia and Alzheimer’s. The knitting pattern is available here.
Make a practical donation
We aim to provide carers that are supporting patients with additional needs with comfort items such as hand wipes, tooth brush, toothpaste, etc. We rely on donations of these items to make up comfort packs. If you would like to donate, please contact the Matron for Patient Experience on 01704 704094.
Dementia and Delirium Team contact details
Contact email: soh-tr.dementiaanddeliriumteam@nhs.net
Contact phone: 01704 704658
Working hours: Monday-Friday 08:00-16:00
A useful leaflet can be downloaded here.
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