I don't know if we have specific "dementia friendly" initiatives, but several years ago, when one of my husband's daughters was visiting, she went shopping in town with him, and came home tearful at the kindness and patience of shop assistants and others. She said everyone they encountered, her dad would talk, and talk, and talk and tell them the whole history of his ancient "clan", and introduce her to them, and she said everyone just engaged with him, and chatted away to him, as if they had all the time in the world. And when it came to paying for things, he had no clue! So he would literally pull out all his money and hold it out to the shop assistant, who would pick through notes and change, take what was needed, and give him any change he was due, and make sure he put his money away safely before he moved away from the counter. Not just small shops, but large supermarkets.
And as for the Bank, when I had to change our Bank, I needed to have a joint account because of my husband's pension. But I didn't have power of Attorney. I explained this to a Customer Service person in the new Bank, and that occasionally my husband could manage to write his name under direction, but most of the time he couldn't, but that in fact, all the bills etc. would be paid by direct debit anyway, and showed him Bank Statements from our old Bank showing that I had been handling our finances for years. I didn't want to go through the Courts to pay hundreds per year, to do what I had already been doing! He looked me in the eye and said "Let's put it this way. If I were to give you the form to take home with you, could you bring it back to me in a couple of days with your husband's name signed on it?" So, we were able to get a joint opened! Another Bank I had approached wouldn't even talk to me! They would only talk to both of us, and my husband would have had to fill out all the forms himself, in the presence of one of their staff.
