A Consultant Forensic Psychiatrist who works with older people with dementia has spoken about the importance of activities and support to help people through their journey.

Muthusamy Natarajan is a Consultant Forensic Psychiatrist and Clinical Director for St Andrew’s Neuropsychiatry service. He works with older people living with dementia who have complex needs and who may have additional mental health diagnoses.

Speaking in the latest Service Spotlight video, which showcases all the different services that St Andrew’s has to offer, he said: “What makes St Andrew’s different is that the culture and the organisation are geared to deliver care to very complex patients who come to us.

"The challenge is that we need to be able to demonstrate we can meet these complex care needs, while maintaining our links with the patient’s carers or loved ones to the best possible standard. St Andrew’s does that incredibly well, and it does it holistically and in some ways, effortlessly.”

St Andrew’s has a bespoke environment, the Lowther Dementia Hub, which enables people living with Dementia to live well and undertake various activities.

He explained: “The Dementia Village concept comes from the Netherlands, where the key area of focus is making sure that patients are able to experience the activities throughout their journey with dementia, and that they are able to interlink with the community.”

Muthusamy works with a broad MDT team, including physical health clinicians such as a geriatrician and specialty doctors, all of whom are based within the Lowther Dementia Hub.

To watch Muthu’s Spotlight video, click here.