Homelink Day Respite Centre has secured a £760,000 grant to build a new centre on its existing site in Whitton.

The funding comes from a £50m pot from the Department of Health’s (DoH) pilot project for 79 social care projects across the country for people with dementia and their carers.

Homelink, which is a nurse-led centre for adults who have mental and physical health needs, were required to demonstrate how practical changes to the environment in which people with dementia are treated can make tangible improvements to their condition, to get the funding.

The new centre will create a dementia friendly environment using design and colour to create light and airy spaces and a new sensory garden.

A carer who looks after her husband full-time and uses Homelink once a week, said: “I have peace of mind knowing my husband is well cared for on a Thursday by Homelink.

“I now have a lot more freedom to see friends, go for a walk, or just be by myself. Homelink has made such a difference to both of our lives.”

Homelink’s chief operations officer Sue Hodder helped set up the Homelink project in 1997 in conjunction with trustees of Homelink and Father Rod Cosh, who at the time was vicar of St Augustine’s Church in Whitton.

She said: “This funding will take Homelink into a different dimension. We started with 12 clients 16 years ago just one day a week and now we have grown to 130 clients placed five days week.

“We provide a much needed service for the local community and the ever-increasing demand means we have outgrown our current premises.”

Richmond Council’s cabinet member for adults’ services and housing, Councillor David Marlow, said: “Investing in pioneering dementia projects that will create a safe and stimulating environment is vital to improving the quality of life for people with dementia and their carers across the borough.”

The centre is planned to be complete by June 2014.

The DoH projects will form part of the first national pilot to showcase the best examples of dementia-friendly environments across England, and its aim is to build evidence around the type of physical changes that give the most benefit to people with dementia.

  • Homelink’s luck was clearly in this month, after they were handed a cheque for £2,500 as part of the Licensed Victuallers Association’s (LVA) annual donation to local charities.

David Simpson, chairman of the Chertsey and District LVA, presented the cheque to the centre and also a £2,500 cheque to SOS! Special Educational needs based in Hampton Hill, during a ceremony at the Roebuck in Hampton Hill on Monday, August 12.