HOSPITALS in Weymouth and Portland are set to trial a new scheme allowing carers to spend more time alongside loved ones with dementia.

The new scheme is being trialled in three of Dorset’s community hospitals, including Weymouth and Portland.

Dorset Healthcare has introduced a “carer’s passport” system, giving people hospital access outside of regular visiting hours and providing support to patients with dementia or memory problems caused by brain injuries and strokes.

It will be piloted over the next three months and if it is successful will be implemented at hospitals across Dorset.

Helen Hutchings, carer’s co-ordinator for Dorset Healthcare, said: “We recognise that people with memory or recognition problems can find hospitals a particularly frightening and disorienting place.

“Having the presence and support of their regular carer can make a big difference, and help us to provide the best possible care. We want to make carers feel welcome, and the new passport is something simple which could have a big impact.”

Under the system, carers identify themselves on arrival at the hospital and are given a badge, or “passport”, which allows them to stay beyond regular visiting hours.

This will provide reassurance and additional help for the person they are caring for.

The move was sparked by John’s Campaign, a national initiative founded in late 2014 following the death of Dr John Gerrard, who had been living with dementia.

When he went in to hospital for an unrelated condition, staying for five weeks, visits from his family were severely restricted by hospital policy and he suffered a “catastrophic and irreversible” decline.

His daughter, Nicci, began campaigning for more access for carers, a move backed by NHS England.

More than 850,000 people in the UK are living with dementia, and they occupy one in four hospital beds.

Generally, due to their condition, their experience of hospitalisation is significantly worse than other people of the same age.

The trial has been welcomed by Sid Wheeler, from Dorset, who helped care for his late father Alan during 2015.

He said: “My Dad had substantial needs as a result of Lewy Body Dementia, which resulted in several admissions to Dorset’s general and rehab hospitals.

“I’d read about John’s Campaign and so became aware of the importance of visitor access for dementia patients. Hospital staff don’t always have the time or resources to give dementia patients the reassurance they need, and so feelings of disorientation or abandonment can escalate.

“Allowing relatives and carers open access hopefully goes a long way to alleviate such distress, and helps NHS staff as well. It’s fantastic that carers’ passports are to be trialled by Dorset HealthCare. It all helps spread much needed awareness and wider conv