Hundreds with dementia signed up to safety scheme

A man in his 80s found wandering on a motorway is among hundreds of people with dementia who have been signed up to a new safeguarding system, police said.

Since last May, Cambridgeshire Police has given out wristbands to people with dementia, which provide the details of their next of kin.

Some 475 people have also filled out an online form - which logs a physical description of their loved one - in the year since it was adopted.

"We want to do everything possible to protect vulnerable people in our county," said Det Ch Insp Dave Savill.

The worried wife of the man in his 80s found on the M11, near Duxford, Cambridgeshire, signed up to the scheme after their ordeal, police said.

More than 10,000 people in Cambridgeshire and Peterborough, and an estimated 982,000 people in the UK, live with dementia, according to the Alzheimer's Society.

The yellow wristband, which looks similar to a watch, contains the wearer's next of kin's contact name and number.

Separately, the Herbet Protocol, which is used by police forces around the country, collates key pieces of information such as a physical description, familiar places, health details and an up-to-date photo.

Police said the information kept on the Herbert Protocol could be "invaluable" during a search.

Officers added a person with dementia does not need to have a history of going missing for a loved one to complete the online form and add their details to the system.

Existing forms helped officers when a woman from Newmarket, Suffolk, mistakenly got a taxi to Cambridge, where she had lived earlier in her life, and when an elderly man walked into a care home in Huntingdon, police said.

Members of the public who come across someone wearing a yellow wristband and look lost or confused are asked to reassure them, and use their mobile phone to scan the information on the band.

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