Closure of Homerton’s Cedar Lodge will see dementia patients move to Mile End

Closing: Cedar Lodge’s dementia services with merge with Thomas House Ward (Photo: Google Maps)

Dementia patients at an “under-occupied” care ward will be moved out of Hackney in a proposed merger which doctors say will improve patient care.

Cedar Lodge in Homerton is set to close and its patients transfer to Thames House Ward at Mile End Hospital in plans approved last night (14 February) by the council’s Health in Hackney Scrutiny Commission.

The Lodge is a 13-bed “continuing care” ward for dementia patients with severe behavioural and psychiatric symptoms who need to stay in a hospital setting for treatment.

It currently has seven patients, five of whom are expected to move to Thames House Ward before 1 April.

Three are in the process of going to live at Mary Seacole Nursing Home in Homerton, two of these by the end of March.

A doctors’ briefing for the commission says both Cedar Lodge and Thames House Ward are under-occupied and a merger would save money and improve “quality of care”.

The briefing says: “The proposal to merge Cedar Lodge with Thames Ward, at Mile End Hospital delivers more cost effective, higher quality inpatient care, and improves utilisation of estates.”

It describes Thames House Ward as a newly-refurbished “dementia-friendly unit” more suitable for older patients, with plans for “reminiscence pods” where patients can watch old films, TV shows and life stories using interactive software.

Patients moving to the new site will also have better access to expert doctors and more space, the briefing adds, and their families and carers will receive support so they can make regular visits.

Last month Hackney Council pledged to become a “dementia-friendly” borough for its estimated 1,300 residents living with dementia.