An appeal to make wards at Stevenage’s Lister Hospital more dementia-friendly has hit its fundraising target – following a huge donation from a supermarket charity.

The Forget-Me-Not appeal received a donation of more than £72,000 from the Morrisons Foundation, and have now been presented with the cheque at the supermarket’s Letchworth store.

Morrisons store manager Russell Walford said: “We are delighted that the Morrisons Foundation has awarded this donation to the Forget-Me-Not appeal, which will help patients with dementia receiving treatment at the Lister Hospital.”

The donation means that the dementia appeal now has the £215,000 needed to refurbish facilities at Lister, with East & North Hertfordshire Hospitals’ Charity’s’s Sam Skipp telling the Comet of his delight at reaching the target.

“We are extremely grateful to the Morrisons Foundation for this amazingly generous grant, which ensures that this ambitious project becomes a reality,” said charity fundraiser Sam.

“Dementia is now the biggest single killer in England and Wales and we are delighted to use our unique position as a hospitals charity, with the support of the Morrisons Foundation and many other funders, to enhance the hospital experience of thousands of dementia patients at the Lister for many years to come.”

The funding is being used to improve the main wards caring for dementia patients, including the installation of specialist lightning and dementia-friendly signage.

The hospital’s 1960s reminiscence room, designed to help older people with dementia cope better when they are in hospital, will also be improved as part of the refurbishment – expected to be completed by May 2018.

In 2015, the East and North Hertfordshire Clinical Commissioning Group released the Hertfordshire Dementia Strategy, revealing that an estimated 15,000 over 65s in the county suffered from the disease.

It was also estimated that more than 600 people were living with young onset dementia, while £90 million was being spent on dementia care in Herts.

According to the Forget-Me-Not appeal, Lister will see about 200 dementia patients admitted every month, with an estimated 40 per cent of over 75s suffering from the disease.

If you would like to organise a fundraising event for the appeal email charity.enh-tr@nhs.net.