Local Day Service Achieves Gold Accreditation for Excellence in Dementia Care
A day centre for older people in Colchester has achieved one of the highest industry standards in dementia care.
ECL’s Marylands Older People’s Day Service has been awarded the Gold Accreditation from the Dementia Services Development Centre (DSDC) at the University of Sterling.
The day centre that supports over 50 customers in the Colchester area, 90% of whom have dementia diagnoses, received a score of 96.91% in its assessment to achieve the full gold award.
Under the leadership of ECL Day Opportunities Area Manager, Kate Ferris, the ECL Marylands team has worked hard over the last 18 months to implement some amazing changes to the centre to enhance the customer experience and bring the centre up to DSDC Gold Accreditation standards.
ECL Colchester Marylands Service Manager, Sherry Mills said: “We are delighted to have received the DSDC Gold Accreditation. We’ve been striving towards it for many months and it’s great to have achieved our goal. I am incredibly proud of what we have achieved at Marylands. We have an amazing team at the service, and this is testament to their commitment to providing person-centred care and delivering excellent dementia support to our customers and their loved ones.”
As part of the changes, the service invested in a major building makeover and new equipment. The centre now boasts welcoming themed rooms such as a cinema room, a games room, a dedicated nursery for doll therapy, a bus stop, and a meditation/prayer room for staff, customers, and family members. All featuring dementia friendly contrast from flooring to walls, dementia signage, way finders, and dementia accredited furniture.
ECL Colchester Marylands has also worked hard to nurture relationships with the local community and local health and social care partners. It has introduced regular carers days in collaboration with the Dementia Alliance to provide the opportunity for local people caring for a loved one living with dementia to network with other people in similar situations and speak to experts who can offer advice and support.
The centre also holds a monthly Memory Cafe for people living with dementia and their loved ones, providing a dementia friendly safe space for them socialise in.
The assessor from the University of Sterling stated: “Many congratulations on this achievement! We recognise the hard work that you and the team have put in over the last year or so and it is good to finally be able to celebrate having created a dementia inclusive environment”.
