The Wessex Dementia Friendly Pharmacy Framework.

Abstract

To develop and launch a dementia friendly framework for community pharmacies in the Wessex region of England. A framework consisting of essential (mandatory) and additional (non-mandatory) criteria were devised by local stakeholders and external scrutiny from the Alzheimer's Society. The framework was designed to allow pharmacy teams to achieve essential criteria without the need for approval by others (e.g. authorisation from internal company management structures). In total, 38 essential criteria across seven domains were devised. All essential criteria had to be met for pharmacies to be awarded dementia friendly status. Engagement events were organised to launch the framework detailing what it was and how pharmacies could meet each criterion. Pharmacies self-certified compliance with the framework criteria via an online platform, and validation activity was subsequently undertaken to see if pharmacies had appropriately self-certified against all essential criteria. Three hundred and fifty-five pharmacies (n = 504, 70%) engaged with the initiative, of which 330 uploaded self-certifications met all essential criteria of the framework. Validation visits showed self-certification to be appropriate in all but one visit (n = 11/12). Staff comments revealed that engaging with the framework had allowed them to be more aware of how better to support people with dementia. A dementia friendly framework was devised and implemented with a subsequent high level of uptake by community pharmacy.