The Dementia Services Development Centre (DSDC) at the University of Stirling says it has worked with individuals and organisations ‘to improve the design of care environments to make communities dementia-friendly; to influence policy, and to improve services for people with dementia’, for over 25 years.
It says: “Design is about more than shaping the physical environment to counter the impairments which come with dementia. It involves addressing standards, practices, and behaviours, of professional staff, and changing the way we engage with people with dementia in the environments they live in. Getting design right can make a fundamental difference to the lives of people with dementia, and DSDC works with others to improve design for people with dementia – in hospitals, care homes, housing, people’s own homes, and communities. “The aim,” the DSDC adds, “is to provide design services which help ensure that environments are enabling for people with dementia; to produce high quality information on the key areas of design, and to deliver specialist training and development, and professional support packages.”
