Twiddlemuffs are helping Hartlepool dementia patients

The North Tees and Hartlepool NHS Foundation Trust has adopted ideas that associate practitioner Carol Brown picked up on a dementia course.

Now they’re being used on the orthopaedic ward at the University Hospital of North Tees.

Older persons nurse practitioner Michelle Wild said: “We have dolls which the patients enjoy to nurse and hold, memory cards and activities that involve making and building.”

Staff and relatives have also been making new items called twiddlemuffs – a knitted muff with items such as beads and ribbons attached to the inside for people to twiddle with to keep their hands occupied.

Michelle added: “Often dementia patients have restless hands and like to have something to play with and keep their hands busy.”

Sue Dalgleish, an associate practitioner in orthopaedics, said: “Often we find our dementia patients have pulled out their IV tubes, giving them a twiddlemuff offers a distraction and has prevented this happening in most cases.

“It would be great for people who enjoy to knit in their spare time to get involved and help us make more for the patients.”

Instructions on how to make a twiddlemuff can be found HERE.