As part of a partnership with Alzheimer’s Society and University College London, McKesson UK (which includes LloydsPharmacy) held an employee focus group to provide feedback and insights for a dementia research project, which began in January 2017.

The project, due to be completed by the end of 2019, uses computer software to identify how speech patterns can be used to spot early signs of dementia and is investigating whether certain patterns of language are better understood by people with dementia. At the end of the project the researchers say they will produce new resources to support better communication that will be freely available to families, pharmacy teams and carers.

Toby Anderson, CEO at McKesson UK, said: “Managing medication can be complicated, but especially for someone with dementia. By supporting this research, we hope to help more people understand how the language they use can make a big difference.”