Porters, domestics and catering staff become ‘Dementia Friends’

Porters, domestics and catering staff working at Watford General are all to receive training to become ‘Dementia Friends’ to help them gain a greater understanding of how the disease affects not only patients, but also their own family and friends. The staff are employed by contractor Medirest who embarked on the project, as part of their sponsorship of the Alzheimer’s Society this year. All the Medirest senior management across our three hospital sites have already received training, as well as 68 other staff at a pilot training session held recently. By the end of the year all 420 of their staff will have received training. Perry Batchelor, director of operations for Medirest, said: “We wanted to support our staff so that they have more of an understanding of not only some of the patients they meet, but also of their family and friends, and to learn more about the lives of people affected by the disease.” For more on this read the next edition of My Watford News out on July 10.