Plans are in the pipeline for a new dementia day care centre to be built next to a town nursing home – believed to be the first of its kind in the county.
Bosses of Marches Care Ltd, who own The Uplands nursing home at Oxon, are awaiting full planning approval from Shropshire Council for the development of the single storey centre at a cost of several hundred thousand pounds.
The application is an amendment to plans for extra care apartments which were given the go-ahead last year, but bosses felt a day care centre would be a better use of the space, and if approved, it is hoped the centre will be up and running by next summer.
The plans include disabled access, an arts and crafts area, sensory area and a private rest area, along with a kitchen where patients can cook alongside staff.
The building will also have access to garden areas and covered verandas, and there will be extra visitor and staff car parking spaces.
Mandy Thorn, managing director of Marches Care Ltd, said the new centre would allow patients to be looked after and given specialist care during the daytime, to allow their relatives to continue working.
She said the dementia day care centre would be a ‘unique service within the county’ running Monday to Friday, 8am to 6pm, and creating up to 10 full time jobs for fully qualified carers.
Mrs Thorn added that the decision to open up the service was a direct response to the ‘huge demand’ which had been placed on their existing nursing home, which had seen dementia beds double to 40.
She said: “It is a case of forward planning as our dementia nursing care units we have here are always full. There is such a demand, and speaking to families associated with The Uplands, they said they wished there had been some where earlier where loved ones could have gone for care during the day. It will provide another choice for families who are facing difficult decisions about what care is appropriate in the earlier stages of dementia related illnesses.”
Public consultation on the plans will end on September 1 and planners will make a decision soon.
