A NEW soft area has been built in a hospital ward to provide a safer environment for patients with dementia.

The area, on ward 14 at the Friarage Hospital, in Northallerton, cost £4,000 and was funded by a number of local people and organisations.

It will primarily be used for patients who may be distressed and have a reduced recognition of their own safety and how to avoid injury.

Ward manager Amanda Jameson-Allen said: "Sometimes, people with dementia can push past everything in their path with no apparent recognition of harm to themselves or others. This can be a very difficult time for visiting relatives.

"The new soft area will provide somewhere safe where patients' relatives can visit comfortably. Staff on the ward are able to observe from a slight distance, so no one feels overcrowded."

Pauline Prest, from Stokesley, and Doreen Newcombe, from Brompton, whose husbands both suffered from dementia and were treated on ward 14, helped to raise funds for the soft area.

Mrs Prest said: "My husband, John, was a part-time fireman and after his death a social evening was arranged with help from the Stokesley firefighters to help raise funds for the ward.

"I hope the opening of this soft area will in some way help to raise the awareness of dementia, as it is a condition that often gets overlooked in the media."