Banks and dementia

Over the last few years a lot of work has been done with Lloyds Banks making them dementia friendly, but now things are changing

Many banks like Lloyds are cutting the number of branches they own, as well as cutting  staff numbers down

Although I am lucky to have very supportive staff in our branch at home,  it's all changing

If I go into the local bank, I am asked straight away if they can help in any way, because I sometimes struggle at times

We did a lot of dementia training in the branches in our area, and thought many of the staff were supportive and went out of their way to help.

But it seems that now, they are working flat out and don't have the chance to help as much as they did

Many of the old members of staff, still come up to me when I am on my own, and ask if they can help. They also ask where my wife is etc.

There are not the numbers of staff around anymore these days, and some of the staff have changed, so they don't know about me, and if I am honest I don't know them

It seems that Banks are cutting staff to save money, but that has a knock on effect when there are big queues of people who may well be annoyed and frustrated at having to wait.

This means that anyone else who has a medical problem,  then ends up being put under more pressure, because they are not able to think clearly, and many people these days are not very forgiving when someone is struggling.

I find it distressing when I am in a queue, and people behind start arguing and complaining, because my concentration goes completely

But I think that this is down to people putting themselves first, and ignoring the rights of others.

I personally feel, that no matter how much dementia training is done, it's going to fail in places like banks because their shareholders are in control.

In the case of Lloyds bank, the general public still own it, and therefore they should think of the public first and not themselves.

However it's not just people with dementia who will be left struggling when they go into banks, its people with many other  illnesses, but I do wonder if the banks really care these days.

It's all about the shareholders and nothing else

So has the dementia  training in banks been a waste of Time?  I guess only time will tell, but it's not liking too good at present, and if they keep cutting down on counter staff as they are doing now, it's going to fail.