Ref. 12377/2THE pioneering mental health team for the elderly at Savernake Hospital in Marlborough has opened a new training centre for people who look after dementia sufferers.

On Monday, Dr Nick Maurice represented his family, who have been practising medicine in Marlborough for five generations, at the official opening of the Maurice Academic Centre.

Consultant Simon Manchip and his team are known nationally for their work with Alzheimer's Disease.

The Farmer Memorial Unit at Savernake Hospital is working closely with the Kingshill Centre in Swindon to identify medications, or combinations of medications used for treating other conditions, that can delay the effects of Alzheimer's.

The memory clinic run by the two centres has shown that medication can delay the effects of Alzheimer's and, in some cases, has been able to help patients regain their memory.

The Old Age Mental Health Service in Marlborough already ran training for health service professionals including consultants and GPs from other parts of the country.

The Maurice Academic Centre has been set up to provide training for those who care for dementia sufferers.

At this week's opening of the centre Dr Manchip said that in the last year the facility had provided teaching and training for staff from six nursing/residential homes.

He said: "Doctors and geriatricians visit Savernake to see how the unit works."

Twenty patients from the Farmer Memorial Unit are currently undergoing drugs trials with the Kingshill Centre.

Dr Manchip said the success of the unit was all the more remarkable because of the constraints it worked under. "We work in the worst financed part of Britain and we work under pressure."

The Maurice family, he said, had been looking after the health of people in Marlborough since 1792 and had been involved with Savernake Hospital since it opened in the late 19th century.

Dr Maurice, a former GP who took early retirement, praised the work of the Farmer Memorial Unit and what he described as its amazing story of achievement over the past few years.

He said: "Dr Manchip has been responsible for that achievement, backed up by the fantastic support of his staff. The reason we are here is to celebrate the achievements of this unit and its work and to look forward to the research that is eventually going to find a cure for dementia.

"It is a great privilege to have the name of my family associated with this unit. I am proud and pleased on behalf of the last five generations."

The success of the trials carried out jointly between the Farmer Memorial Unit at Marlborough and the Kingshill Centre in Swindon is recognised not only in Britain but also in Europe.

Dr Manchip said he has been invited to Athens on March 12 to address a conference on how his unit works.

At Savernake the work of the unit will not be affected by the construction work going on for the new hospital.

Many of the buildings around the old hospital will be demolished but the main buildings, which were designed by the 19th century architect Gilbert White, are to be preserved and incorporated into the new development.

The Farmer Memorial Unit will operate from its present buildings until it transfers into part of the new hospital. Eventually the wing housing the mental health unit will be demolished to make way for new homes.