When your loved one moves into dementia care at Dungate Manor, our activities coordinator will take the time to get to know them well before adding them to the schedule.
We also talk to families to go through their loved one’s personal history and find out what they have always enjoyed, including what they find difficult and what a good day looks like for them. That is exactly how our dementia activities in Surrey are created.
Our schedule runs daily, weekly, and monthly and includes various dementia activities, such as reminiscence therapy, music, arts and crafts, baking, sensory sessions and regular outings to local towns in our minibus.
We also run many events throughout the year that families are invited to, giving you the chance to be part of daily life here too.
We are a small boutique care home and do not use agency staff.
The care team delivering dementia care therapy at Dungate Manor are the same familiar faces your loved one will see every day, providing the consistency that matters more than anything else when it comes to how settled and comfortable your loved one feels here.
Types of Dementia We Support
We have different approaches to our dementia care activities in Surrey. Our fully trained team cares for residents living with various types of dementia, and the way we approach activities and daily life varies depending on your loved one’s diagnosis, how they are feeling and what works for them personally. We also work alongside each resident’s GP and any other clinicians involved in their care.
We support…
Alzheimer’s disease
For residents with Alzheimer’s, keeping things familiar is central to how we plan activities and routines. We make sure personal belongings, including photographs and objects from your loved one’s life, are part of their world and we keep daily patterns as consistent as we can. Our permanent care team helps enormously here, because residents are not regularly meeting new faces.
Lewy body dementia
Residents with Lewy body dementia can experience visual hallucinations and significant changes in alertness throughout the day. That’s why our team is fully trained to respond calmly, keeping the environment low in stimulation. Medication also requires particular attention with this diagnosis, so we coordinate carefully with prescribing clinicians, as certain commonly used drugs can cause serious reactions in people with Lewy body dementia.
Vascular dementia
Fatigue is common with vascular dementia, so our team keeps activity sessions shorter and checks in with your loved one regularly rather than expecting them to sustain participation for long periods. We stay in close contact with GPs and make sure care plans are reviewed and updated whenever your loved one’s needs change.
Frontotemporal dementia
Frontotemporal dementia can affect how your loved one behaves, communicates and relates to other people, sometimes before memory is significantly affected. Our team is experienced in working with these changes, especially in dementia care therapy and knows exactly how to respond in ways that keep them feeling calm. We get to know each resident’s patterns over time, which helps us anticipate what is likely to help on a difficult day and what is best avoided.
Feel free to arrange a visit to Dungate Manor to meet our staff and experience our fantastic facilities.
Supporting Life at Our Dementia’s Care Home
Your loved one with dementia will always be part of the wider life of Dungate Manor, using the same dining room, lounges and gardens as all our residents and joining the same activity schedule. Here is how we support each resident to take part in daily life in a way that works for them:
Cognitive & Therapeutic Sessions
Reminiscence therapy is a regular part of our dementia activities in Surrey and is led by carers who know your loved one’s background. We use music, personal photograph albums and any objects they love to prompt memory and conversation, always led by how your loved one is responding. Families can receive updates and footage from sessions, something many relatives have told us they really appreciate, especially on the days they cannot visit.
Social Engagement & Community Interaction
Meals at Dungate Manor are served in our dining room and prepared fresh daily to a high standard. Families who have joined residents for lunch have described the food as hotel quality and mealtimes are a genuinely social part of the day. Our communal lounges are well used throughout the day and shared activities bring residents together naturally. Throughout the year, we run events that families come along to, from seasonal celebrations to food tasting evenings and you are welcome to visit at any time under our open-door policy.
Physical Wellbeing & Movement
We offer chair yoga and seated exercise sessions and our gardens are secure, well-maintained and accessible throughout the day. Your loved one can spend time outside whenever they want to. Our wheelchair-friendly minibus is used for regular outings to local towns, where our residents can enjoy shopping, cafes and green spaces, with our team paying close attention to how each resident is feeling on a given day so that activity levels are always appropriate.
Personalised Daily Routines
As mentioned previously, we ask families to go through their loved one’s daily life in detail before they move in. Sleep patterns, meal preferences, morning habits, what tends to cause anxiety and what has always brought comfort to them, especially in recent times with dementia. Our carers build a daily routine around that information and ensure it stays consistent. And having long-term staff who know your loved one well makes that consistency possible, and for our residents living with dementia, a day that feels familiar and predictable makes a significant difference to their well-being.
A Personal Approach to Dementia Activities
Our dementia activities coordinator gets to know each resident individually before planning their involvement in the schedule. We look at what your loved one did throughout their life before transitioning into dementia care, what has always interested them and how they have preferred to spend their time, making sure the activities we offer feel relevant to them personally.
Some of our residents really enjoy hands-on sessions like baking or crafts, while some prefer music or being in a group without actively joining in.
Everyone is different, with some residents engaging for an extended period, but there will be times it is just for a few minutes and we respect those choices. Our dementia activities in Surrey work around those differences, with our team adjusting based on what they observe day to day.
Time spent one-to-one with a carer is just as much a part of our dementia care therapy at Dungate Manor as any group session.
A conversation over a cup of tea, time in the garden or sitting together in our conservatory are all valued by our team and treated as an important part of your loved one’s day.
You are always welcome to visit during activities and to join in if you would like to. We also ask families to share what they notice during visits, because your observations add to what our team’s knowledge about your loved one and help us continue to get their dementia care right.
