We used purposive sampling to recruit Health Care Professionals (HCPs) across a range of organisations providing care for people with dementia. To gain a thorough and detailed understanding of HCPs experiences of providing care, we used a realist approach and in-depth interactive interviews (Pawson & Tilley, 1997). We interviewed a range of HCPs working for various organisations across North and South London including care homes and NHS services such as memory clinics, mental health and commissioning services. Interactive interviews enabled the interviewer and respondent to engage in a creative discussion without the restrictive parameters imposed by tightly structured interview schedules (Pawson & Tilley, 1997). Potential respondents were identified by research staff recruiting residents from care homes to a parallel cohort study (Sampson et al., 2016) and through the research team’s knowledge of other relevant HCPs. All respondents were sent a study information sheet and a reply slip to return to the researcher within two weeks. Those who returned the reply slip indicating their interest were contacted by research staff and appointments were made for interviews to take place at a location of the respondent’s choice, which for the majority of HCPs was at their place of employment. Consent forms were completed on the day of the interview after any questions had been answered. Ethical approval was granted by the University College London Ethics Committee (Reference: 3578/001) on 24th January 2012.