Dementia-Friendly Pharmacy

Pharmacies are the most accessible and frequently-visited source of healthcare in England. More people than ever are now living with dementia so it makes sense for pharmacies to be as dementia-friendly as possible. This section of our website includes guidance on:

• Resources to help you make your pharmacy more dementia-friendly
• Signposting: National & local dementia support

Dementia Friends

All members of the pharmacy team, including drivers, should be Dementia Friends. It’s easy to do. You can watch a short film online. If possible, it’s also a great idea to attend a face-to-face session where you will gain more insight into what it’s like to live with dementia and how we can all make life easier for people living with dementia.

Why should my pharmacy become more dementia-friendly?

• You’ll be meeting the needs of an ever growing patient/customer base.
• You’ll enable people with dementia to receive the same high-quality care as your other patients/customers.
• It is also an important part of being a Healthy Living Pharmacy in Greater Manchester.

Resources to help you make your pharmacy more dementia-friendly

There are some fantastic resources to help you and your team become more dementia-friendly.

• Creating a dementia-friendly environment: This checklist has really useful tips to make your pharmacy premises more dementia-friendly, e.g. having clear signage and a layout that is easy to navigate.
• Guidance & tips for customer-facing staff: The Alzheimer’s Society has produced a guide to help staff delivering face-to-face services to people with dementia.
• Producing dementia-friendly information: Tips to help you produce patient/customer information that is more accessible for people with dementia.
• Dementia-Friendly GP Practice Guide: Although this guide was produced for GP practices, pharmacies will also find some useful and relevant tips. It was developed by Making Space and NHS Bury CCG.
• Communicating with someone with dementia: Another useful Alzheimer’s Society guide.
• CPPE Dementia training: CPPE provide a range of training including: Dementia e-learning; Consulting with older people living with dementia; Dementia focal point with Dementia Friends Session; and Dementia floor on Thelearningpharmacy.com.
• Medicines optimisation for people with dementia: This CPPE guidance supports pharmacy teams with medicines optimisation for people with dementia, enhancing clinical care and patient experience.

Signposting: National & local links for dementia support 

There is a vast amount of support and guidance out there, including free information leaflets, memory cafes, singing for the brain, physical activities, carers support, and much more.  The University of Manchester runs a free legal advice clinic for people with dementia and their carers.

• The Herbert Protocol: The Herbert Protocol is a national scheme that has been introduced locally by Greater Manchester Police and other agencies which encourages carers and family members to compile useful key information which could be used in the event of a vulnerable person going missing. This short film is a great overview of how it works and why it matters. Pharmacies can sign up to support the scheme, using these resources:
  • • Leaflet
    • Poster
    • Copy of the Herbert Protocol form. You can also register the details on the Safe and Found website
• Alzheimer’s Society Dementia Guide: This guide is for people who have been diagnosed with dementia and those supporting them. It’s available in English and a range of other languages, with factsheets and video versions.
• Alzheimer’s Society publications: An extensive range of factsheets, guidance and information
• Alzheimer’s Society Talking Point: Online discussion forum with advice, information and peer support for people with dementia and their carers.
• Alzheimer’s Society ‘Brain Tour’: This is a really interesting resource that explains more about different types of dementia.
• Dementia UK publications: You can order from an extensive range of information leaflets.
• Dementia UK – Sources of support and advice: A webpage that explains what support and advice is available for people with dementia. It includes information about Admiral Nurses.
• Dementia Law Clinic (free): The University of Manchester and Making Space run a dementia law clinic providing free advice on legal matters, admiral nursing and communication to support people with dementia and their families/carers. Find out more.
• Dementia-friendly homes: Pharmacy teams may find this guide useful when advising patients/customers or carers of people with dementia.

Dementia Toolkit: Appropriate prescribing of antipsychotic medication

The toolkit was developed by London Clinical Networks and Yorkshire and Humber Clinical Networks, with input from a range of stakeholders including the Royal College of General Practitioners and NHS England’s Dementia policy team, and Medicines Safety Improvement programme. The toolkit aims to support appropriate prescribing and deprescribing of antipsychotic medication.

The resource has been developed to aid good practice and to help reduce variation in prescribing across England. It complements guidance available at a regional level, and provides guidance and information to address:

• uses, risks and alternatives to antipsychotic medication
• risk reduction in antipsychotic prescribing
• support for local systems to deliver best practice in antipsychotic prescribing and de-prescribing where appropriate

Click here to view the toolkit

Local resources and support

Local signposting information:

• Alzheimer’s Society: find local services near you and their local dementia support services

Greater Manchester Dementia Care Pathway – Dementia United

The Dementia Care Pathway has been developed by Greater Manchester through its Dementia Programme (Dementia United) as part of an Integrated Care System.

Dementia United worked with people living with dementia, their care partners, and professionals in Greater Manchester to find out what matters to them and to use this information to co-produce a set of 75 dementia quality standards.

Who Is The Dementia Care Pathway For?

Whether you’re a member of the public looking for local support and information for yourself or a loved one, a commissioner looking for best practice guidance on how to support people in your community, or work in health and social care and are looking for the evidence behind different interventions, you’ll find it in the dementia care pathway.

You can access the Dementia Care Pathway via link here Greater Manchester’s Dementia Care Pathway (gmdementiaresources.org.uk)

The website has a section where you are able to select your borough and information find associated resources and local support which are available to support conversations with Patients, Carers and anyone else who is trying to find local information.

For more information about local dementia services and support, visit https://www.alzheimers.org.uk/find-support-near-you