Bradford Teaching Hospitals yesterday unveiled its £500,000 landmark project which has seen two wards transformed into healing environments for patients with dementia.

The new facilities on wards 23 and 29, which incorporate the use of art, film, colour and touch, aim to provide dementia patients and their carers with an environment that promotes relaxation, independence and better orientation.

Duncan Preston, patron of Alzheimer’s Society in Bradford, was a special guest at Bradford Royal Infirmary yesterday. He said: “Anything that can be done to improve hospital care for vulnerable people with dementia is vital. Simple things like reassuring people, helping them adapt to their environment and training staff to provide sensitive, safe care can make a huge difference.”

Bradford Teaching Hospitals was one of 12 hospitals across the country chosen to take part in The King’s Fund’s Enhancing the Healing Environment (EHE) programme in 2010.

Sponsored by the Department of Health, it encourages nurse-led teams to work in partnership with estates departments and patients to improve the environment in which care is delivered.

The transformation of both wards, under a theme of ‘Yorkshire Outdoors’, includes photographs depicting the surrounding countryside and familiar local scenes. Wards and side rooms have been repainted in colours to aid dementia patients’ orientation and pathways around the wards.

Art work has been commissioned and films from the Yorkshire Film Archive are shown to stimulate patients. Patients can watch these films from specially-commissioned cinema seats.

Memory boxes have been added to personalise bed spaces and dynamic new lighting has been installed to aid sleep and wake cycles.

New televisions have DVDs inbuilt and USB ports so families can bring in their own films and photographs and a reminiscence cafe full of items from the past has been created on ward 29. The café will be manned by hospital volunteers and open between 2-4pm daily.