1. The National Dementia Declaration lists seven outcomes that the DAA are seeking to achieve for people with dementia and their carers. How would you describe your organisation’s role in delivering better outcomes for people with dementia and their carers?

Bedfordshire LPC represents all community pharmacies across our area and one of our aims is to help and support community pharmacy teams to achieve better use of medicines for their patients.

Community pharmacists are the most accessible healthcare professional, with local communities being able access help and information without the need for an appointment. This means we have daily contact with a large number of individuals seeking help and advice on a wide range of health topics, for example in relation to medicines use, independent living aids and preventative healthcare measures.

Although there is no cure for dementia, medicines play a key role and people living with dementia are often taking multiple medications. Community pharmacists and their teams can help to reduce some of the difficulties people experience with taking their medicines and  help to reduce the impact this can have on the health and social care system.

2. What are the challenges to delivering these outcomes from the perspective of your organisation?

Awareness of dementia in community pharmacy teams can be improved.

The challenge is to ensure that all community pharmacy teams fully understand the condition and the treatments available for dementia. Another challenge is to ensure community pharmacy teams are confident and competent to support patients with dementia and their carers.  

There are challenges for community pharmacies delivering clinical pharmacy advice visits in residential care homes as this type of service is not covered by existing pharmacy contractual arrangements. Consideration could be given to funding specific services delivered by community pharmacists in care homes.

Community pharmacists also have a role in the early detection of dementia. Quite often, pharmacists in the community will come across and recognise early signs and symptoms of conditions and diseases. They can then have conversations with the patient’s GP to raise awareness of this. Pharmacists are also in a unique position to offer support, both formal and informal, to carers as they have more frequent contact than any other healthcare professional.

Currently, pharmacists are not commissioned to conduct a dementia assesment for patients showing symtoms of the condition. Pharmacists are ideally placed to provide this review.

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