A PROJECT working to improve care for people with dementia is to be trialled in Droitwich.

The three-year MEETINGDEM project has been set up by the University of Worcester and the Alzheimer’s Society and is being supported by a €1,119,819 – or £887,613 – European Union grant.

The EU is trialling the scheme in the UK, Italy and Poland, with the university’s Association for Dementia Studies (ADS) leading the UK programme, and uses the Meeting Centres Support Programme, which has proved extremely successful in treating people with mild or moderate dementia in the Netherlands.

As part of the programme a meeting centre will be opened in Droitwich in 2016.

Director of the ADS Professor Dawn Brooker said the project aimed to assess how effective the model would be in the UK.

“Knowing that a service works in one country may not necessarily mean that it will work in another,” she said.

“We will spend 18 months establishing a pilot service and 12 months running a prototype and evaluating it.

“This is a very exciting project and one which has the potential to improve and support the wellbeing of people with dementia and their families living in Worcestershire and beyond.”

Operations manager for the Alzheimer’s Society in Herefordshire, Worcestershire and the Black Country Kumbi Mandinyenya said patients and their families attending the meeting centre would be able to access a range of therapies as well as creative and recreational activities.

“Carers will also be able to attend informative meetings, support groups and learn about coordinating care,” she said.

“With the right support people with dementia can live well with their condition.

“That is why it is so important we continue to look at and test innovative approaches to care.”

For more information call 01905 5422664 or email shirley.evans@worc.ac.uk.