Dementia Plus Care

Whittle Hall’s Dementia Plus household was specially set up to care for residents with behaviours that challenge. It was the first of its kind in the Warrington area and won a Care Home Award for its innovative approach. It is purposely designed to house up to 16 residents. The design scheme is based on recommendations of good practice from Stirling University and focuses on providing excellent facilities that as well as being fit for purpose, are not your everyday care home.

There are themed wall murals within the household and bedroom doors have contrasting colours to the surrounding walls and frame to help residents identify their own room. Each bedroom has a name plate on the door with memory boxes placed outside which contain meaningful reminders for residents to aid orientation to their rooms.

All bedrooms have ensuite facilities with a spacious wet room shower, sink and toilet. All toilet seats are in colours that contrast with the toilet and ensuite surfaces to aid residents in identifying the toilet.

The main shower room has a coloured dignity screen to aid privacy for our residents, is very spacious to aid with moving and handling and is beautifully decorated.

The corridors are extremely wide and spacious to give a feeling of space and to minimise the feeling of being restricted. Handrails on the main corridors are contrasted against the décor to aid residents with dementia to find their way around the household. Flooring is the same colour throughout the communal areas, corridors and bedrooms with no stark contrasts at floor level which can pose as a hazard.

Furniture in the home has been chosen in colours that contrast with walls and flooring, and specialist dementia signage and directional signage is located around the household to help orientation for residents.

The garden was designed to be easily accessible from the lounge and dining area with double patio doors into an enclosed dementia friendly garden. The garden has a free flowing loop design with a clearly defined pathway. Residents within the household have open access to the garden which is fully secure and located in the internal courtyard.

This calm spacious environment has a positive impact on our residents who respond well to the high staffing levels and therapeutic support from our staff, some have transitioned back to dementia nursing care.

In 2019 Whittle Hall won an award for a pilot study conducted on our DPlus facility that looked at whether five minutes activity five minutes before a meal time could impact on the health and well being of people living with dementia. We are now working with the University of Bradford to develop this into a full scale research study.

This is an outstanding care home with friendly and approachable staff. On a first impression it reminds me of a five star hotel. My grandma settled in from day one!
Yes this home is like a 5* Hotel and the care is also 5*, my mum was in here for respite and the care she received was wonderful.
This is the most beautiful home with the most caring staff, and excellent management. This should be the blue print for all care homes and I feel so lucky to have found it.
The care my father has received has been second to none. I cannot thank you enough for the work you do. You are a shining example of how a nursing home should be run.
I would recommend this care home to anybody. The facilities are great, the staff are excellent, efficient and very caring – deserves 1st prize in the awards.
The facilities, food, activities, cleanliness etc are all as you would expect from a first class care home. We are really impressed and we would have no hesitation in recommending you.