ABSTRACT
This chapter aims to develop an understanding of the institutional cultures, the place of the patients within them and the ways in which this setting is particularly unsuited for people living with dementia. Red-brick buildings are linked by bare institutional corridors to mid-century brutalist towers, late-century prefabrications and onwards to the glass and steel frontages and atriums of contemporary extensions and new builds. Despite the representation of the modern hospital as a site of great technological advancements, there was typically little evidence of medical modernity within these wards, nor of its use or presence at the bedside. The rhythm of ward life is characterised by patterns of apparent linear organisational structures of shifts, and timetables, influenced by the pace and priorities of different teams within and entering it, but also larger external forces. Each ward has a distinct institutional smell, a cocktail of disinfectant mixed with cooked food slowly congealing on plates left at the bedside.
