High street businesses to support Government's dementia package

Following the Government’s recent decision to implement a £90 million package to improve dementia diagnosis and care, leading British high street businesses have pledged that more than 190,000 staff will learn to support customers who have dementia.

Some 60,000 staff at Marks & Spencer, 70,000 Lloyds Pharmacy employees, 50,000 staff at Home Retail Group – which owns Argos and Homebase – and 11,500 customer-facing staff at Lloyds Bank will learn to understand what dementia is, how it can affect a person’s ability to do day-to-day things and how they can help make a difference.

Jeremy Hughes, Chief Executive of Alzheimer’s Society, said: “Many people with dementia tell us that shopping and visiting their local high street can be stressful. We applaud Argos, Homebase, Marks & Spencer, Lloyds Banking Group and Lloyds Pharmacy on their commitment to help their staff understand more about dementia. By joining the tens of thousands of Dementia Friends already in local communities, they are playing their part in supporting people with dementia.”

Sacha Berendji, Marks & Spencer retail director said: “When we heard that a quarter of all people with dementia feel that they can no longer go shopping, despite it being the local activity that they enjoy most, we knew that M&S had to play a part in changing this for the better.

“We want our stores to be friendly, safe environments for customers with dementia. That’s why we will be empowering all 60,000 of our store colleagues to become Dementia Friends over the course of the year.”

Terry Duddy, CEO of Home Retail Group, which owns Argos and Homebase, confirmed the high street stores’ commitment, saying: “Argos and Homebase have shown real passion in driving forward change for people with dementia. We are offering all of our 50,000 colleagues the opportunity to become Dementia Friends.

“Already more than 200 colleagues have taken part in the programme. Colleagues say this has made a real difference to them personally and that they will be in a better position to understand customers and their carers who have been affected by dementia.”

Some 60,000 people have already signed up to the Alzheimer’s Society Dementia Friends programme, and this new high street business influx brings the total number of Dementia Friends to more than 250,000.

Read more about the Government’s campaign to encourage earlier diagnosis of dementia Bid to make Britain a global leader in dementia diagnosis and research