Vicky McClure opens £10m specialist dementia unit at Queen’s Medical Centre

Vicky McClure cut the ribbon on the new Geriatric Assessment Unit at QMC today (July 18).
By Lauren Monaghan, Junior Local Democracy Reporter

A new dementia-friendly unit opened at Nottingham Queen’s Medical Centre aims to transform how people with the condition are cared for in hospital.

The Geriatric Assessment Unit (GAU) is a first for Nottingham University Hospitals Trust.

Costing £9.8 million, it was funded by a grant from NHS England.

Nottingham actor Vicky McClure cut the ribbon on the brand-new facility today (July 18) after a performance from Our Dementia Choir.

The Wollaton star, known for films and TV series including the BBC’s Line of Duty, has campaigned for greater awareness and research into dementia treatment following her family’s own struggles with the condition.

Her grandmother, Iris, lived with dementia before her death in 2015.

Vicky McClure at the new Geriatric Assessment Unit at QMC.

Our Dementia Choir was established by Vicky in 2018. It uses music to improve the lives of members, who all have the condition.

The new wards at the unit have dementia-friendly features, such as circadian lighting – which mimics outdoor lighting.

There are plain floors to avoid overwhelming patients, yellow-coloured toilet doors for easy recognition, and clocks in each room displaying the date and time.

Vicky said: “Dementia care is something that I think we are progressively learning more about because it’s for so long been a forgotten illness, sadly.

“What we’re seeing here today is a ward that is making sure that people that are living with dementia are having their needs met… it’s absolutely vital we make sure that these kinds of wards exist.”

Our Dementia Choir performing a song at the opening of the new unit.

The specialised environment aims to offer care for those living with dementia that is specific to their needs, as those with the condition can feel overwhelmed, confused and overstimulated by regular hospital environments.

Cheryl Broodryk, GAU Ward Manager, said: “It’s very important, coming into hospital can be quite a scary time for people without dementia let alone patients with dementia.

“It’s important to get them at ease so they’re not frightened, it’s important to have a calming environment for them to have the hospital stay-in with as little disruption as possible.”

There are hopes this type of unit will help to further develop dementia-centred care, and encourage other hospitals and care providers to follow suit.

Ms Broodryk added: “I’ve been working quite closely with the patient group that do a lot of fundraising for dementia, and they’ve given us lots of ideas going forward that can help promote dementia and do things specifically designed for dementia patients.”

Cheryl Broodryk, ward manager of the Geriatric Assessment Unit at QMC.

The opening of the new facilities may also cut wider hospital waiting times and hospital stay times.

Nick Carver, Chairman of NUH, said: “We have a large group of people who are elderly and have dementia, and if we end up putting them in normal wards they can stay for a long period of time and they can become sicker.

“It enables us to get this group of patients out of the emergency department more quickly and discharged from the hospital more quickly… easing pressure on our A&E departments… it doesn’t solve the problem completely but it makes an important contribution.

“We’re in a facility that wasn’t previously used for clinical care, so by freeing it up we’ve managed to get a facility that’s right at the heart of the Queen’s Medical Centre, close to all of the facilities that our patients need, x-rays, scanning so they can go and have these quickly and conveniently and be treated quickly and discharged.”

Dementia is a syndrome associated with an ongoing decline of brain functioning. It is most common in people aged over 65 but it can occur in younger people.

Symptoms include problems with memory, thinking or language, and changes in mood and emotions.

There are currently estimated to be 982,000 people living with dementia in the UK.

It is the country’s leading cause of death, accounting for around 11 per cent – or more than 74,000 lives a year.