AN NHS trust has launched 'orientation boards' for elderly care wards at two North-East hospitals.

The boards, which are designed to enhance the experience of dementia patients while in hospital, went into service at Darlington Memorial Hospital and the University Hospital of North Durham this week.

They are located in patient side rooms, display a range of information including the date, month, season as well as photographs of local landmarks both past and present.

The boards are designed to be interactive so patients can choose and change the photographs which are displayed.

Many more elderly patients and particularly those living with dementia can become disorientated while in hospital and the boards are designed to support them with information which can help interactions with nursing

Janet Mortimer, specialist dementia nurse for County Durham and Darlington NHS Foundation Trust, who developed the boards along with colleagues, said: "These boards are a way of starting an interaction between a patient and health staff, something to use to begin a conversation and start to build a relationship to help the patient feel more comfortable in the hospital environment.

"We’ve made the boards interactive so patients are able to change the photos and information displayed on them which also provides a focus while they are in hospital.

“I’m really excited to see the launch of the new orientation boards.

"We’ve now got over 40 going up across the Trust and I’m pleased to see the idea become a reality.

"We’ve had a lot of help to get to this point, we started with just some laminated print outs and now have these fantastic magnetic boards – we’ve progressed so far and we hope the boards will bring some real benefits to our patients’ experience.”