Zumba classes, 1950s music and a rescue dog are at the forefront of an ambitious plan by Kingston Hospital to shift attitudes away from the “clinical approach” of caring for people living with dementia.

Surrey Comet:

A patient takes aim in one of the hospital's exercise sessions

A dementia strategy was launched in 2014 to help improve patients’ experience on the wards, with almost half of over-75s admitted to Kingston Hospital living with some form of dementia.

So far, the Galsworthy Road hospital has set up an activities room in the Esher Wing, which runs four or five times a week, with the aim of installing its first specially catered ward this summer.

Olivia Frimpong, dementia service improvement lead at the hospital, says: “We have people living a lot longer in these affluent boroughs, so we have got a big population of people with dementia.

Monday, December 21: Toast, ice cream and cake - taste testing the new menus at Kingston Hospital

“It is a big focus for our hospital, there are not a huge number of hospitals who have these strategies – there is a lot of care homes.

“Being admitted to hospital is an unpleasant experience for anybody, but people with dementia in hospital don’t do as well.

“There is a slight move away from the really clinical result-driven patient approach. Everyone feels vulnerable – it’s not a good place to be, as soon as you’re here you want to be out. We’re trying to be patient centred and see them as individuals.”

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Singing lessons are also on offer, with 1950s music over the stereo

Currently, patients from across the hospital can take turns at improvised mini-golf, exercise routines or even have a haircut as part of the sessions.

There is also the memory café, which runs in conjunction with homecare provider Home Instead, and offers therapeutic activities such as “chair zumba”, and ballroom dancing.

A clear favourite is Spanish rescue dog Mico, who comes in and acts as a calming influence on patients.

Unfortunately, Mico was on holiday for our visit.

But while the activities centre largely on leisure and helping patients “feel more at home”, there is  also medical science behind the changes.

For the exercises patients are watched by a physio, who records each patient’s muscle strength and co-ordination and passes the information on to the doctors.

Staff also want to reduce the amount of anti-psychotic medication administered.

Roxanne Barker, who organises the activities, says: “It’s extremely important, the cognitive emotional support that we give, you can see the difference with the patient. The improvement is recognisable.

“Some patients don’t want to go home, they want to come to the activities room.

“We are learning a lot from our patients. They come in for other illnesses. It can be difficult, they are not at home with their families.”

Surrey Comet:

Makeshift mini-golf is also popular in the ward 

One patient from Surbiton – using the activities room for the first time – said: “You meet different people which is very good for you.

“It’s good to have exercises. “The trouble is you’re brittle as your body gets older, this is the real difficulty.

“The important thing is they keep you moving. The music is very good, I haven’t heard The Twist for many a year.”

The strategy reflects a national drive to improve hospital standards after Prime Minister David Cameron launched the Dementia Challenge in March 2012 to promote “high quality, compassionate care”.

Across the county, about one in four hospital beds are occupied by someone living with dementia.

Work is set to begin on Kingston Hospital’s specifically designed Derwent Ward in July, with staff hoping it will be ready this summer.

Amongst its features will be different flooring, as hospital floors can look wet to people living with dementia, more social spaces, a digital fish tank, less clutter in hallways and historic pictures of Kingston on the walls.

Toilet doors will be painted yellow – not so they can stand out at the hospital, but also as yellow is the last colour some people living with dementia lose sight of.

A fundraising project was launched in April last year to fund the scheme, with an eventual target of £750,000 needing to be raised. Kingston mayor Roy Arora has chosen the appeal as his charity.

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Staff at Kingston Hospital 

Care remains reliant on a selection of the hospital’s 1,000 volunteers, such as Tiffin Girls’ School pupil Sarah Peters, 17, from Richmond, who has recently been accepted into Oxford University to study medicine.

She says: “You can really see the difference with patients from before and after. It was something that I didn’t know that much about, most of what I have learnt has just been on the job.

“Every time I come it’s something different. Everyone has a different story, all the patients I speak to are such interesting people, people with such broad life experience.”

To donate visit justgiving.com/kingstonhospitaldementiaappeal or email fundraising@kingston hospital.nhs.uk.