The National Dementia Care Accreditation Scheme (NaDCAS) is proud to begin a new partnership with Signage for Care by Wayfinders, leading specialists in dementia-friendly signage and wayfinding solutions. At first glance, signage might sound like a small detail in care, but for people living with dementia, the right signs can transform an environment from confusing and intimidating into a place of reassurance, independence, and belonging.

The Role of the Enabling Environment in Dementia Care

For someone living with dementia, a care home is not just a building - it’s a world they navigate daily. Simple tasks such as finding the bathroom, recognising their own door, or confidently finding a lounge can make the difference between calm and anxiety. Dementia-friendly signage helps create enabling environments where people can move freely, participate in activities, and feel more at home.

Signage for Care's Contribution

Signage for Care understands this reality and combines technical precision with person-centred insight to produce signage that restores confidence, supports memory, and reduces disorientation. Developed in consultation with leading research institutions, including the Dementia Services Development Centre (DSDC) at Stirling University, their products align with internationally recognised best practice.

Their dementia friendly signage incorporates three key elements:

• High Contrast Clarity - Carefully calibrated Light Reflective Values (LRVs) ensure that key features stand out, supporting individuals who experience reduced contrast sensitivity and visual-perceptual changes.

• Selective Visual Emphasis - By balancing high and low contrasts, Signage for Cares signage avoids overstimulation and helps focus attention on the most relevant cues, minimising confusion.

• Support for Orientation and Memory - The integration of familiar icons, tactile features, and dementia-appropriate colour palettes aids recognition, reinforces memory pathways, and enhances a sense of belonging.

The result is an environment that reduces anxiety, restores confidence, and improves daily lived experience.

"At Wayfinders, we see signage as more than a way to guide people from one room to another. Done right, it becomes a tool that restores dignity and fosters independence. Our work with NaDCAS will help set a new benchmark for what dementia-friendly environments can and should be." - Peter Reynolds, Managing Director at Wayfinders

Partnership Impact

Through this collaboration, NaDCAS and Signage for Care are setting a new standard for dementia-friendly environments. The NaDCAS Framework highlights the “enabling environment” as a foundation of high-quality dementia care, and Signage for Care’s thoughtful approach brings this principle to life in practical, evidence-based, and human ways.

“Working with Signage for Care strengthens our mission to support care providers in creating enabling environments. Their evidence-based design complements the NaDCAS framework, turning environmental design into real, lived improvements for people with dementia.” - Claire Reading, Director of Partnerships and Operations at NaDCAS

A Shared Vision

NaDCAS believes care is not only about safety and clinical provision, but about creating homes where people with dementia can live with dignity, comfort, and connection. This partnership demonstrates how environmental design, informed by evidence and empathy, can transform everyday experiences of care.

For more information about the work of Signage for Care by Wayfinders, visit www.signageforcare.com

For media enquiries, please contact: marketing@dementiaaccreditation.org