As our population ages and as life expectancy increases, we are likely to have to care for more and more people with dementia.

Caring for someone with dementia is draining - physically, mentally and emotionally. Especially if that person is a much-loved family member or friend.

Increasing amounts of the NHS budget is now being used to care for people with dementia, particularly those who are admitted to hospital due to other complaints.

Warrington Hospital has come up with an innovative way to way to care for patients such as these and I was recently delighted to be able to show Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt around the new ward.

The designers of the ward have clearly put a great deal of thought into their plans and drawn on the experiences of those caring for dementia patients. Different areas of the ward are colour coded to help patients make sense of their surroundings.

Whilst dementia patients are often unable to recognise close friends or relatives, many are still able to recall experiences from decades ago, so many aspects of the ward have been designed to stimulate those memories. For instance, patients are able to watch old film reels on a TV designed to look like a 1970s set

Many of the other parts of the ward have been painted in such a way as to resemble Warrington in days gone by. The old town centre Odeon has been lovingly recreated, along with other scenes from central Warrington.

This is all designed to make what is usually a frightening experience for someone with dementia into a more soothing and relaxing experience. It means that the patient is able to focus on recovering from the ailment which brought them to hospital in the first place.

All this has been made possible by Warrington artist Anthony Turk and a half-million pound grant from the Government.

Yet again, Warrington's NHS is leading the way in excellence.