The family of a grandmother with Alzheimer’s disease have banded together to raise money for the hard-working staff at her care home to buy a dishwasher.

At the moment the cheery staff at Morriss House, a specialist home for people with dementia in Crouch End, must wash all the dishes for the 25 elderly residents by hand.

Grandson Josh Surtees, 36, his two siblings, and his mother, Ann, 60, who has terminal liver cancer, are leading the campaign for the care home workers to get a little respite.

Grandmother Doris, 87, has advanced Alzheimer’s, but her family believe that she is receiving the best care.

“It’s just a fantastic place; the staff are there for her 24 hours a day. They basically never stop and they’re never complaining; they like their job,” Mr Surtees said.

“The mealtimes are a lot of work,” he continued. “Some residents can’t communicate and they get very cross.”

“We realised that they were washing everything up by hand every single day. It takes them away from doing other things.”

As well as running mealtimes, medication rounds, cleaning and bedtimes, the care workers organise arts and crafts, sing-alongs, drama and even flower-arranging workshops for the residents.

Doris Surtees grew up near Yorkshire and has been in the home, close to her family, for almost a year.

“She’s still very funny, although she asks the same questions over and over again,” Mr Surtees said.

“She thinks that she’s a child again in Bradford; she’ll mention her mum and dad. All the residents have dementia and they’re all living in a dreamworld; when they speak to each other it is just fantasy. It’s a lot better for people like that to live together,” he continued.

The Surtees family have raised just over £800 so far towards a commercial dishwasher for the staff, which costs approximately £2,500 to buy and install.

They will be carol singing outside Waitrose on the Crouch End Broadway with Catherine West, MP for Hornsey and Wood Green and residents from Morriss House on December 17.

“Alzheimer’s disease is going to affect so many people’s families, and it’s going to be more and more of an issue in the future,” Mr Surtees said.

Visit the fundraising page for more information and to donate: www.gofundme.com/singingfordishes