Two wards at Dorset County Hospital have merged to create a centre of excellence for the care of older patients.

The new "Mary Anning Unit' will open at the Dorchester hospital on April 3 and is dedicated to the care of older people.

Made up of a merger between the Barnes Ward and the Day Lewis Ward, the teams chose to name their new unit in recognition of the pioneering achievements of Dorset palaeontologist Mary Anning.

The staff are proud that it is the first unit at the hospital to be named after a woman.

Sonia Gamblen, Divisional Head of Nursing and Quality, explained that the ageing population of Dorset was a key reason behind creating the specialist unit.

She said: “In England, there are 295 older people per 1,000, whereas in Dorset this figure is 527. The population of those aged over 75 is projected to grow by 28% over the next 10 years in Dorset.

“We need to embrace the needs of our older population and create a centre of caring and competence excellence involving our health and social care partners.

“To meet the growing complex needs of older people, the acute hospital ward needs to develop an environment that attracts the very best of skilled staff and provides a place to study, train and create a high-performing centre of excellence for frailty.

“Our aim is to recruit, train and retain a multi-professional workforce supporting the whole hospital’s understanding, knowledge and skills around frailty care.

“We want to be able to offer our older patients the best possible care in an environment that suits their specific needs.”