A hospital has become the first in Scotland to join a new initiative aimed at helping patients with dementia.
Wishaw General has signed up to John's Campaign, a scheme where dementia sufferers stay in the company of their carers in their wards, ensuring they are surrounded by familiar faces throughout the day and night.
The project had been trialled in ward 12 of the North Lanarkshire hospital and has now been extended after proving to be a success.
Gillian Corbett, chief of nursing services at Wishaw General, said: "Due to the overwhelming support for us to sign up to John's Campaign, we have progressed to the next stage and now every ward in the hospital has signed up.
"We are committed to improving the care of patients with dementia. We recognise that relatives and carers play a key in the assessment, care planning and care delivery for these patients.
"Based on this, we totally support the involvement of relatives and carers at every point of care delivery in the patient's journey, from outpatients, to the theatre entrance, at tea time and overnight, planned care or emergency care, every day, every time.
"We are delighted to be supporting the aims of John's Campaign and would encourage families and carers to get involved and let nursing staff know if they would like to participate."
The initiative was founded by Nicci Gerrard and her friend Julia Jones after Nicci's father Dr John Gerrard died at the age of 86 in 2014 after being diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease in his seventies.
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