Dementia friendly pharmacy

The Alzheimer's society has produced a very useful guide to becoming a Dementia friendly pharmacy found at the following link! Dementia Friendly Pharmacy

Some really useful pointers from within this document include:

■     Dementia affects 50 million people worldwide, with a new case diagnosed every three seconds.
■     Almost 80% of people worldwide are concerned about developing dementia at some point.
■     1 in 4 people think that there is nothing they can do to prevent dementia.
■     Dementia is the 5th leading cause of death in the world.
■     Pharmacy teams are ideally positioned to help patients and their carers to make positive choices about their health, optimise their use of medicines and signpost to other forms of support.
■     Pharmacies are uniquely placed as potential places for better information and signposting for people with dementia or worried about their memory.
■     Pharmacies are a source of medical support and information within local communities. They are also generally widely used by people with dementia.
■     It is important that all staff in a pharmacy benefit from having dementia awareness and not just those on the pharmacy counter. It is a fact that many pharmacists will have had no formal dementia awareness training.
■     Negative customer experiences are lost opportunities for customer loyalty and business growth.
■     Pharmacies may provide an excellent opportunity for signposting by having local service leaflets at the pharmacy counter from the Alzheimer’s association.