My mother, who has vascular dementia, has been worrying me for some time but as yet I have had no concrete 'evidence' that she needs to be in residential care, just a feeling that she would be safer there. I spoke to the Warden at her sheltered accommodation this morning who informed me that when my mother goes out she can never find her way back and either follows someone in the hope that they will lead her home or asks someone to show her the way. Apparently they have all watched her crossing the road and noticed that she doesn't seem to pay any attention to traffic. This morning someone 'brought her back' at 6.30 am and had to get one of the other residents up as mother didn't have her key. I asked the warden if she thought my mum was at risk and she said yes, definitely, and she has been keeping a record of all of these incidents. I won't go into how I feel about all of these incidents happening without my knowledge, but feel that something needs to be done urgently. I spoke to mum's social worker the other day and she said there was a strict clampdown on residential care at the moment because of funds and that we needed to get an assessment (preferably as an in-patient) by the consultant that she is under. Today I have left messages with 3 members of the team, none of whom have got back to me yet. What words do I need to use to make them sit up and take notice????