A pilot scheme tackling loneliness and allocating specific time to foster friendships has been introduced for the staff of a Swedish pharmacy chain.

Apotek Hjärtat has 390 pharmacies across retail and healthcare locations in Sweden with over 4,000 employees. It has introduced the scheme as part of its commitment to a business network set up by the health minister to address loneliness.

The “friendcare”, or vänvård, pilot focuses on “nurturing friendships” as 10 employees working across different pharmacies or in head office are involved in the scheme.

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They have 15 minutes each week set aside during work hours to focus on making or building their friendships through chatting on the phone or making plans over text.

They also receive SEK 1,000 – roughly £80 – over the year-long pilot to help with their “friendcare” activities.

Yasmine Lindberg, who works at one of Apotek Hjärtat’s locations in the south Swedish city of Kalmar, is doing the scheme and feels “happier” after feeling lonely since separating from her partner and seeing her children less.

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“I'm really tired when I go home. I don't have time or energy to meet my friends. I wanted to make it better for myself,” she said.

The scheme will be evaluated in March to see if it will be extended, as chief executive Monika Magnusson says the response to the pilot so far has been “very positive” as “many employees” applied to be a part of the pilot.

“In our business, we encounter loneliness daily,” she said. “Our employees will also go through the stages of life when the risk of involuntary loneliness is greatest.

“We want to give them knowledge and tools to better prevent this for themselves and those close to them.”

Hot Dogs

Sweden’s public health and social affairs minister Jakob Forssmed is keeping an eye on Apotek Hjärtat’s scheme.

"I think this is very interesting and I'm following what they're doing. [But] I'm not going to give you any promises that the government is going to scale this up or give a tax deduction or something like that."

Apotek Hjärtat joined the ‘Together against involuntary loneliness’ business network set up by Forssmed in December 2023 that includes twenty companies attempting to reduce loneliness through their own initiatives.

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Forssmed created the network because “the business community is an underutilised force” and they can become “an important cog” in reducing loneliness because “businesses are where people are”.

The Swedish arm of Coca-Cola and H&M are part of the network, as well as Ikea who ringfenced money from its hot dog sales to invest into Sveriges Stadsmissioner (Sweden’s City Missions) that tackle poverty and homelessness.

Another pharmacy group Apoteket are in the network and have developed training on loneliness for its employees, hold regular meetings with pensioner organisations, and organised a sustainability week focusing on involuntary loneliness.

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A three-year community initiative between 2023–2025 was launched by Sweden’s government with an initial fund of SEK 300m – £24.1m – per year in to distribute funds to its local municipalities to tackle involuntary loneliness among the elderly.

In 2024, Sweden’s public health agency conducted research that found loneliness is most common among young people, the elderly, those who live alone, disabled people, those on sick leave and the unemployed.

It linked loneliness to increased risks of cardiovascular disease, stroke, dementia and mental illness and in response in February 2025, it launched its national strategy on loneliness.

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This included investing SEK 49 million – £3.9m – to civil society organizations that work to reduce loneliness and promote community.

Health minister Forssmed said “by supporting civil society, we can reach out to the most vulnerable and create a warmer society”.

Friskvård

Apotek Hjärtat has also introduced training for its employees on preventing loneliness as well as teaching its managers on “identifying and responding” to employees in need of support.

The training was developed with a Swedish mental health non-profit called Mind. It said “when loneliness is not self-chosen, it can be both psychologically and physically harmful”.

“Employees in workplaces are an important target group for us. We hope to teach more people how to spot warning signs and encourage them to nurture social relationships,” it added.

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Apotek Hjärtat commissioned its own research into involuntary loneliness last January and it revealed divorce, unemployment, retirement, personal finances and children moving away from home as the biggest risks to becoming involuntarily lonely.

The “friendcare” scheme follows from similar government initiatives such as friskvård, which is health care benefit employees can receive that includes an allowance of up to SEK 5,000 – roughly £402 – per year for massages or gym memberships to improve workplace wellbeing.

In September, the pharmacy profession’s charity Pharmacist Support launched its walking campaign to “raise vital funds for the charity’s free and confidential support services” as well as “tackle loneliness” within pharmacy. 

Community Pharmacy England's chief executive Janet Morrison was awarded an OBE for her work around combating loneliness.