WDC executive director Lenny Shallcross joined Ian Stuart (CEO, HSBC UK) and Jacqueline Hoogendam (Dutch government) at this year's Dementia Forum X, to assess the progress already made by dementia friendly initiatives globally, and what action is still to be taken.

The WDC recently launched a project to lead an international network of organisations to present the global evidence base for the delivery of meaningful Dementia Friendly Initiatives (DFIs). The project has teamed up with charities, businesses, academic research organisations and people affected by dementia to build the narrative on why communities across the world must deliver DFIs.

The session furthered global conversations around DFIs which were held at the WDC five-year progress summit in London in December 2018. Putting dementia friendliness centre stage in Stockholm was one of many discussions we will be having to find the very best practice from dementia friendly initiatives across the globe.

Lenny Shallcross, executive director of the WDC told participants: "Success is when someone in the future looks at a dementia-friendly society and says 'that is so old fashioned.'"

Ian Stuart, CEO of UK retail bank HSBC, said " I will not have people coming asking for time off to go and care for relative. If they don’t know they can do that, we’ve failed them.”

Jacqueline Hoogendam, dementia policy coordinator at the Dutch Ministry of Health, Welfare and Sport, added: “We have paid a lot of attention to adapting the indoor environment for people with dementia but not enough to the outdoors. We need to think about things like the pavement people walk on or the benches they sit on.”

Dementia Forum X has been held biennially since 2015 under the patronage of Her Majesty Queen Silvia of Sweden at the Royal Palace of Stockholm. It aims to provide a platform for important discussions around dementia and its challenges. It was founded by Forum for Elderly Care and Swedish Care International, and organized in collaboration with Stiftelsen Silviahemmet, Forte, Karolinska Institutet, and Svenskt Demenscentrum.