Purple Alert update
Please note that the Purple Alert app is no longer in operation. There are a number of other ways we can support you if you have concerns of the person you care for going missing.
We work with partners such as Police Scotland on initiatives like the Herbert Protocol, a national scheme that encourages families to compile vital information for the police, saving precious time should a situation arise where a person with dementia goes missing.
If you would like to find out about available support, please read about our Dementia Safeguarding Scheme here.
Work in progress
Return Discussions
We ran a pilot project in collaboration with Edinburgh Police and the University of Edinburgh called Return Discussions. These are conversations carried out within 72 hours from someone returning home after a missing occurrence. The aim of these conversations is to comfort, advise and signpost families to further support. Edinburgh Police refers families to our Dementia Advisor who will follow up the missing episode, and provide the adequate support. The University of Edinburgh analysed qualitative and quantitative data during a 6 months period. You can read the 6 months evaluation report here.
The pilot project ended in March 2023 and you can read the final evaluation report here.
This project has been funded by the RS Macdonald Charitable Trust and the Kirkwood Memorial Fund.
SafeConnect
In 2022 we ran a small pilot in Argyll & Bute in partnership with Police Scotland.
The pilot was called 'Dementia Safeguarding Tag' and provided families affected by dementia with a small yellow keyring using a technology called NFC (Near field Communication). If a person with dementia lost their way and had the keyring, anyone could tap their smartphone and get in touch with the lost person's next of kin.
The pilot was so successful that we decided to scale it up nationally, renaming it SafeConnect. Read more about SafeConnect and the Dementia Safeguarding Scheme here.