To meet the high demand for specialist nursing care for people with dementia, The Lodge at Buckshaw Retirement Village near Chorley has made a major investment in a new nursing facility which will create 50 new jobs.
The Lodge now has 30 EMI nursing beds designated for people with dementia. Fifteen of those beds are for people with high dependency needs, and in that area there will be a ratio of one member of staff for every three residents.
Twelve members of staff are currently in place and all 50 new staff are due to have been recruited by the New Year.
Lorraine Haining, Head of Dementia Services at The Lodge, said: “We were initially registered to provide residential care but we began to see a substantial demand for nursing care because, in line with the Government’s dementia strategy, people are being cared for in their own homes as long as possible. This means that when they do have to leave home they often require specialist nursing care.”
The staff in the new nursing facility at The Lodge include Registered Mental Health nurses who are very experienced at working in the dementia care field.
“The new facility combined with the experience of the staff will improve the wellbeing of residents by reducing challenging behaviour and improving their quality of life,” said Lorraine.
Management at The Lodge were able to develop the new nursing facility after successfully applying for re-registration with the Care Quality Commission. The process took several months to complete.
Last year The Lodge became the first care establishment in Britain to gain a gold standard under a national scheme to promote dementia friendly design in buildings. The awards scheme is operated by the University of Stirling’s Dementia Services Development Centre.