Donations to Raising Health, along with capital funding from LPT, has enabled the transformation of the two dedicated specialist dementia wards at the Evington Centre, off Gwendolen Road, Leicester. The two wards serve the whole of Leicester, Leicestershire and Rutland and accommodate 21 men and 21 women with moderate to advanced stages of dementia.

The £140,000 investment will provide improved therapeutic benefits for those receiving care from Leicestershire Partnership NHS Trust. The two specialist wards  have been made much brighter, and decorated with massive images of Leicestershire landmarks such as Bradgate Park and Leicester railway station.

Laura Belshaw, Leicestershire Partnership NHS Trust’s deputy head of service and lead nurse, said the landmark murals could have important therapeutic benefits.
“We have chosen key places of interest from around Leicester that patients and visitors will know and will have memories from to support reminiscence and meaningful conversations. It has generated positive interest from other clinicians about how they can improve their patient areas through art.”

The landmarks include Bradgate Park, Leicester railway station, the Clock Tower, the Magazine, New Walk Museum and Art Gallery, Abbey Park, and Leicester Castle. They have been fixed on to walls which have been painted in lighter colours. At the same time, the previously blue flooring has been replaced with more suitable colours – recent research has shown patients with dementia can mistake blue flooring for water, which can upset them and can make them more likely to fall. Lighting has also been improved.

Laura Belshaw added: “The ward is now a very bright place compared to what it was. It is making a massive difference.”

The £22,000 costs of the murals has been made possible by donations to Raising Health.