Kingston Hospital has won the “Best Dementia Friendly Hospital” category in the National Dementia Care Awards 2020.
In 2014, Kingston Hospital launched its first dementia strategy and in 2016, with funding from Kingston Hospital Charity, the Trust began refurbishing its elderly care wards, a project which was completed in 2019.
Winners of the National Dementia Care Awards were announced at a virtual awards presentation held on Thursday 12 November, attended by over 400 guests.
The National Dementia Care Awards are an annual event organised by The Journal of Dementia Care, a multidisciplinary journal for all professional staff working with people with dementia, in hospitals, nursing and residential care homes, day units and the community. The awards were created to recognise the very best people in the dementia care sector, whose exceptional work and contributions make better, person-centred care a reality. There were 15 categories to enter overall and there were up to five finalists in each category with two independent judges.
The following statement was issued by the judging panel:
“The judges thought all the finalists were brilliant. They chose Kingston Hospital as the winner because of their exceptional commitment to improving the hospital experience for patients with dementia and their carers. In their achievements, they have demonstrated their underpinning philosophy – “the more you know about the background of the person with dementia, the better care you can give.””
Olivia Frimpong, Kingston Hospital’s service improvement lead for dementia and delirium, said: “We are absolutely delighted to be recognised for the hard work the hospital has undertaken in the past five years to improve care for patients with dementia and delirium. Through the Trust’s dementia strategy we have transformed the elderly care wards into dementia friendly environments, developed a fantastic therapeutic activities service and now have dementia specialist nurses providing support to staff, patients and their carers across the hospital.
“This could not have been achieved without the dedication of the fantastic dementia team, who always put their patients first and go out of their way to support people living with dementia, who often find coming into hospital a very frightening experience. It is also important to recognise the support of Kingston Hospital Charity, who campaigned tirelessly to make the ward refurbishments possible. I am incredibly proud to work with such dedicated team members.”
