Dementia patients at the Harbour given new front doors to reduce anxiety during Dementia Awareness Week

The Harbour mental health hospital in Blackpool has introduced "homely" front doors across its dementia wards to help residents feel more at home.
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To help dementia residents feel safe and calm across the Bronte and Wordsworth wards at The Harbour in Windmill Rise, door wrap stickers have been applied to look like their front doors, helping to reduce anxiety.

Some of the symptoms caused by dementia include short term memory loss, poor spatial awareness, increased anxiety and disorientation to place, time and person.

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Helen Blundell-White, deputy ward manager on the Bronte ward at The Harbour, a 154-bed mental health hospital run by Lancashire and South Cumbria NHS Foundation Trust, said: "As a dementia unit, we reviewed and agreed upon door designs and colours with the aim of helping our patients orientate themselves to their bedroom, reduce anxiety and frustration and promote independence.

Door wraps have been applied to dementia patients' doors at The Harbour hospital, to help them feel more safe and to reduce anxiety. Picture: Lancashire and South Cumbria NHS Foundation TrustDoor wraps have been applied to dementia patients' doors at The Harbour hospital, to help them feel more safe and to reduce anxiety. Picture: Lancashire and South Cumbria NHS Foundation Trust
Door wraps have been applied to dementia patients' doors at The Harbour hospital, to help them feel more safe and to reduce anxiety. Picture: Lancashire and South Cumbria NHS Foundation Trust

"The door wraps have significantly improved the overall environment.

"They are bright and welcoming and enhance person centred care as we can individualise them with pictorial prompts specific to each patient."