Nursery children join dementia patients on zoo trip

Patients with advanced dementia have shown improvements after spending time with nursery children, according to organisers of a project.

Residents from a Leicestershire care home have been joined on trips out - including to Twycross Zoo - by youngsters from a nursery over the last 18 months.

Raksha Mistry, from the Food for Life project which organised the get-togethers, said residents were calmer, took on "a nurturing role with the children", and ate and drank more.

She said while young people and dementia patients have been brought together before - perhaps most notably in Channel 4 documentary Old People's Home for 4 Year Olds - these residents have advanced levels of dementia and "sometimes demonstrate challenging behaviours".