Wandering outside the home

Julieborough

Registered User
Jul 25, 2018
22
0
My mum lives at home. She has had dementia for the last seven years. She has carers three times a day. She has very little mental capacity and I have medical LPA. She has shown no interest in leaving the house for the last three years so I have always though she was pretty safe.
Last night the carer put her to bed at 5. This is normal as she is usually exhausted by then. An hour later the Ring Door bell motion sensor went off and when I looked mum was wandering towards the street in her night clothes. Luckily her neighbour saw her and took her back into the house.
I am now totally terrified she will do it again. My first instinct was to get the carers to lock the doors at night. I then started to search the internet to see if this is allowed for mums own safety. Lots of articles came up on depravation of liberty in care homes but don’t seem to apply at home. One article mentioned Court of Protection orders. I don’t know if I need this as I’m LPA? Does anyone know if a) it is legal and b) if not how do you cope with this?
I know if this happens again I will need to consider a care home but there is no chance at the moment with the virus. So how can I keep her safe?
 

TNJJ

Registered User
May 7, 2019
2,967
0
cornwall
My mum lives at home. She has had dementia for the last seven years. She has carers three times a day. She has very little mental capacity and I have medical LPA. She has shown no interest in leaving the house for the last three years so I have always though she was pretty safe.
Last night the carer put her to bed at 5. This is normal as she is usually exhausted by then. An hour later the Ring Door bell motion sensor went off and when I looked mum was wandering towards the street in her night clothes. Luckily her neighbour saw her and took her back into the house.
I am now totally terrified she will do it again. My first instinct was to get the carers to lock the doors at night. I then started to search the internet to see if this is allowed for mums own safety. Lots of articles came up on depravation of liberty in care homes but don’t seem to apply at home. One article mentioned Court of Protection orders. I don’t know if I need this as I’m LPA? Does anyone know if a) it is legal and b) if not how do you cope with this?
I know if this happens again I will need to consider a care home but there is no chance at the moment with the virus. So how can I keep her safe?
My dad has his doors locked at night in case anybody gets in.(He cannot walk so couldn’t get out if he needed to).The carers lock it as he has a key safe and consents to it(fluctuating capacity).
Could you get someone to do night sits with her so they could stop her wandering. If not than I cannot think of anything else but a care home..
Hopefully someone else may come up with an idea.
 

Bunpoots

Volunteer Host
Apr 1, 2016
7,344
0
Nottinghamshire
Hi @Julieborough

When my dad first went walk about in the wee hours my solution was to hide the front door key and leave his keys in the back doors so he could get into the garden but couldn’t go knocking on neighbours’ doors Cos he was lost and scaring them. He was reported to the police as a prowler.

I don’t know if something like this would work for you. Dad had locking gates into his garden so couldn’t get out that way.

Obviously locking someone in with no means of escape is a fire risk so wouldn’t be allowed.

I think you’re right to be considering a carehome in the near future. It might be worth making enquiries - places are still available even in these difficult times.
 

Weasell

Registered User
Oct 21, 2019
1,778
0
The most obvious problem that occurs to me is the fire risk as @Bunpoots mentions.
I would purchase a tracker that could go round her neck.
I can’t remember what it is called ( it’s a mans name )but you are supposed to tell the police of her
potential to wander. ( Can anyone else remember the name ?
I would invest in technology, a door sensor that contacts your mobile, to back up the ring.
As part of the security on my home I have an system that detects a person and gives a voice message. If you can get one that the Carers can turn on at night the message could say ‘ return straight inside the house’ ?
I am sorry busy day today or I Would have a look for you. You could try putting wandering or wandering technology in the search bar at the top this forum.
Could the Carers put a big note on the door when they leave ? Don’t go out?
 

Julieborough

Registered User
Jul 25, 2018
22
0
Hi @Julieborough

When my dad first went walk about in the wee hours my solution was to hide the front door key and leave his keys in the back doors so he could get into the garden but couldn’t go knocking on neighbours’ doors Cos he was lost and scaring them. He was reported to the police as a prowler.

I don’t know if something like this would work for you. Dad had locking gates into his garden so couldn’t get out that way.

Obviously locking someone in with no means of escape is a fire risk so wouldn’t be allowed.

I think you’re right to be considering a carehome in the near future. It might be worth making enquiries - places are still available even in these difficult times.
thank you. Mum can get out into the garden so she would be safe in case of fire. She has a back door and conservatory door so two means of escape. Locking the garden gate would just stop her getting lost or like you say frightening other people. I think I’m going to have to give it a go.
 

Julieborough

Registered User
Jul 25, 2018
22
0
The most obvious problem that occurs to me is the fire risk as @Bunpoots mentions.
I would purchase a tracker that could go round her neck.
I can’t remember what it is called ( it’s a mans name )but you are supposed to tell the police of her
potential to wander. ( Can anyone else remember the name ?
I would invest in technology, a door sensor that contacts your mobile, to back up the ring.
As part of the security on my home I have an system that detects a person and gives a voice message. If you can get one that the Carers can turn on at night the message could say ‘ return straight inside the house’ ?
I am sorry busy day today or I Would have a look for you. You could try putting wandering or wandering technology in the search bar at the top this forum.
Could the Carers put a big note on the door when they leave ? Don’t go out?
I thought of the tracker but mum would take it off. I tried her with a sos bracket but it lasted a day. If I lock the garden gate as I mentioned in my reply above mum has lots of points of escape into garden but just not into the street.
Mum seems to ignore notes. I used to put up a note every week to leave the bin bags out as the dustbin people were coming but she used to read it, take it off, throw it away and get the bins back in.
it’s so hard?
im going to try the voice message thing though. Thanks for your reply.
 

Julieborough

Registered User
Jul 25, 2018
22
0
My dad has his doors locked at night in case anybody gets in.(He cannot walk so couldn’t get out if he needed to).The carers lock it as he has a key safe and consents to it(fluctuating capacity).
Could you get someone to do night sits with her so they could stop her wandering. If not than I cannot think of anything else but a care home..
Hopefully someone else may come up with an idea.
thanks for your reply. I’m going to try the garden gate lock I think. She was managing well with carers up to this point. Mum has plenty of entrances into the garden so there is no fire risk. It will just stop her putting herself in danger by wandering in her night clothes.
 

Lemondrizzle

Registered User
Aug 26, 2018
246
0
We used to have MIL's front door locked 24/7. She could get into the back garden although we had to put a big lock on the gate after she worked out how to get out from there. This was discussed with the police who brought her home on one occasion and they said that it was quite common to have to lock doors in these circumstances as mum was at far more risk of danger when wandering than being confined to her own surroundings. I'm not saying it was plain sailing but it was essential. We had the fire brigade in to check things out and put in smoke alarms. We were told that the address would be registered with details of what would be needed for rescue in case of a fire so that time wasn't wasted trying to get mum to open windows or stay in one room for example as she would have become more confused by having instructions shouted to her.
 

Julieborough

Registered User
Jul 25, 2018
22
0
We used to have MIL's front door locked 24/7. She could get into the back garden although we had to put a big lock on the gate after she worked out how to get out from there. This was discussed with the police who brought her home on one occasion and they said that it was quite common to have to lock doors in these circumstances as mum was at far more risk of danger when wandering than being confined to her own surroundings. I'm not saying it was plain sailing but it was essential. We had the fire brigade in to check things out and put in smoke alarms. We were told that the address would be registered with details of what would be needed for rescue in case of a fire so that time wasn't wasted trying to get mum to open windows or stay in one room for example as she would have become more confused by having instructions shouted to her.
Thank you so much. Your post has put my mind at rest. It’s good to know that even the police know it’s safer to have locks. I’m going to have the fire alarms checked and any other things that may be a hazard. I have informed mum’s care agency and they are happy to have the garden gate locked as they can see mum has plenty of exit points into the garden. Thanks again for your help.
 

Palerider

Registered User
Aug 9, 2015
4,160
0
56
North West
Just to point out that DOLS can be applied in the home setting, but to do this you will have to go through the Court of Protection, you can find clear guidance on the Social Care Institute for Excellence website, which states: 'in other settings the Court of Protection can authorise a deprivation of liberty'

The website clearly states the requirements to impose deprivation of liberty and things you need to carefully think about to remain on the right side of the law. Here's the link:

https://www.scie.org.uk/mca/dols/at-a-glance
 

Lemondrizzle

Registered User
Aug 26, 2018
246
0
The Herbert Protocol is such a good idea. We were just lucky that the last time MIL went walkabout a family had taken her in so their report to the police about finding her and ours about her being missing came hot on the heels of each other and were matched. One of her lovely carers then went to pick her up as she lived just along the road from where she was found. What helped form the opinion that some extra security was needed was how far she had walked. She could make it around her house only slowly but had covered a large distance, including crossing a major road and all in the dark of late autumn. It wouldnt have occurred to us that she could get that far.