NHS priorities

Whether it’s to prepare for the next Pharmacy Quality Scheme deadline, or to increase your confidence in helping people with a learning disability, this section provides topic-specific pages that link to current NHS priorities. This section will support you in keeping your knowledge and skills up to date in order to provide high-quality pharmacy services and be service-ready.

Clinical pharmacy

Our clinical portfolio is expanding on a frequent basis, helping you to advance your knowledge and skills and deliver medicines optimisation in practice for all sectors of pharmacy. From two new focal points a year to our small group learning for hospital pharmacists – Optimise – this section focuses on clinical pharmacy, diseases and therapeutics.

Public health

The public health agenda is embedded in pharmacy, yet topics such as emergency contraception or stop smoking support are as prevalent as ever. As well as our public health workshops, use this section to access a wide range of resources to assure and maintain your competence, all underpinned by the Declaration of Competence system.

43495
Back to programme listings

distance learning

Dementia: pharmaceutical care of people living with dementia


  • Study time: 10h:0m
  • Only available to GPhC members

This programme will help you to develop a better understanding of the role of the healthcare teams in the early identification of dementia and help you to recognise the signs and symptoms of the different types of dementia. It will improve your knowledge of the clinical and patient-centred holistic management of people with dementia and supports the delivery of care that is evidence based and up-to date.

Please note: this learning programme has been developed and provided by NHS Education for Scotland. Users should recognise that this programme will refer to Scottish policies and organisations. CPPE does not maintain control over the accuracy and currency of this programme.

Learning outcomes

On completion of all aspects of this learning programme you should be able to:

  • describe the investigations and clinical features used to diagnose dementia
  • recognise the signs and symptoms of the different types of dementia, describe their progression, and have an understanding of the common differential diagnoses
  • discuss the lifestyle changes that can improve the overall health of people with dementia
  • demonstrate an understanding of the medicines used to treat dementia and their place in therapy
  • describe the behavioural and psychological symptoms of dementia (BPSD), know the potential causes of BPSD and the management of these symptoms
  • review the risks associated with antipsychotic medicines in patients with dementia
  • anticipate and advise on treatment of commonly encountered symptoms at the end of life in dementia
  • appreciate the importance of interacting with the person in a person centred way and utilising communication techniques that recognise individual needs.

How to use this programme

On your computer: You can open this programme as a PDF in your web browser. We recommend that you download and save it to your computer and view it through Adobe Reader.

On your tablet device: If you would like to view this programme on your tablet device you can download the PDF and open it within a free PDF reader app. We have tested this type of programme in a few apps and found that it works in the Adobe Reader app on Android and Apple devices and the PDF Reader app on Apple devices.

Learning intended for

  • Pharmacists
  • Pharmacy technicians
  • Trainee pharmacists