Harmonia Village

Harmonia Village at Dover
The Trust is currently developing an innovative teaching nursing home for people living with dementia (PLWD). The Harmonia Village at Dover is currently under construction and will open in September 2019. It has received funding from the Interreg 2 Seas fund as part of a European social and technological innovation project called the Community Areas of Sustainable Care And Dementia Excellence in Europe (CASCADE) project. There are a number of partners, across four countries, involved in the project, they are:

England

• East Kent Hospitals University NHS Foundation Trust
• The Health and Europe Centre
• Medway Community Healthcare CIC
• England Centre for Practice Development, Canterbury Christ Church University       

Belgium

• Emmaus Elderly Care
• Flemish Expertise Centre on Dementia
• Residential Care Holy Heart

Holland

• ZorgSaam
• HZ University of Applied Sciences
• France
• University of Lille

The CASCADE project will develop a financially sustainable approach to elderly and dementia care that can be replicated across the 2 Seas area & potentially further across Europe. Uniquely this will be tested via conversion of existing houses owned by the Trust at Randolph Road in Dover. The facilities created will provide short term respite and longer term care, and will fully engage with the local community. They will also be the basis for a cross-border shared learning in dementia care for the future. The approach will have wide applicability and play a significant role in addressing the increasing demand for care of PLWD.

The project will be using technology to support the model of care. It will develop a technology based support system using “off the shelf” sensors integrated with a software platform and artificial intelligence (AI) system to support care of PLWD. The system will also have the capacity to process contextual information provided by clinicians and carers. The technology will assist with personalisation of care and with delivering high quality and safety standards, and will support further research into these areas. The system will be guide and manage interactions between staff and PLWD and provide a “wrap around” package that is transferable between care environments. It will do this by creating individual behavioural baselines and prompting staff and carers to intervene only when behaviour moves outside a normal range for that person, an incident occurs or the system indicates the PLWD would like and/or benefit from some interaction. It will provide more autonomy and freedom to PLWD and free up staff time providing capacity to enrich their interactions with PLWD. Predictive capabilities will also be developed such that step changes in behaviour or clinical condition can be anticipated and action taken where necessary.

For further information contact: Henry Quinn, Strategic Development, Kent & Canterbury Hospital, Ethelbert Road, Canterbury, Kent, CT1 3NG, henryquinn@nhs.net