A LEADING centre for people with dementia has been given the go-ahead in Billericay.

A specialist unit dedicated to patients suffering from the illness will be opened at Mountnessing Court from the autumn after being approved by the board of NHS South Essex.

approved: Ian Stidston from NHS South Essex, mental health commissioner Irene Lewsey and dementia foundation founder Caroline Dearson outside the new unit

The Mountnessing Road centre will encompass organisations involved in caring for people with dementia, bringing together medical, therapeutic, social care, and mental health staff, as well as workers from the Alzheimer's Society.

It will be supported by a consultant psychiatrist and a geriatrician.

The new centre will be a pilot project with initial results assessed in January next year.

Ian Stidston, director of primary care and partnership commissioning at NHS South Essex, said: "This unit will give people the choice to have intensive support away from hospital.

"We want to provide the necessary care they and their carers need so they can stay at home and live as independently as possible, for as long as possible, if that is their wish."

The 22-bed specialist unit, for dementia patients in south west Essex as well as Castle Point and Rochford, will provide rehabilitation seven days a week for up to eight weeks.

During this time, patients will receive intensive, expert care in an environment set up specifically for people with dementia.

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Billericay Gazette published Dementia care centre to open in Billericay