Information sent on behalf
of Neighbourhood and Home Watch Network
The Neighbourhood Return project aims to improve life for people with dementia and their carers by helping them to prepare for, and cope with, a common life changing event: getting lost.
Every year in England and Wales some 39,000 people start to wander and get lost due to dementia. Getting lost dramatically increases the risk of being admitted to a care home – from 15% over two years to 45% - and accounts for 12,000 to 18,000 care home admissions annually.
The Neighbourhood Return project involves the development of a volunteer network of people from their local community, including Neighbourhood Watch and Home Watch, who, if they receive a text or an email to say that a person with dementia is lost in their immediate neighbourhood, will go out and look for them. The project has so far been featured in the Daily Mail as a feature for the Silver Dreams Fund.
More information can be found at www.ourturn.org.uk
Initially, this project will only be piloting in Oxfordshire but we hope it will be rolled out nationally, if funding can be secured.
We are currently recruiting for a Service Manager to develop this project too. For more information about the role and how to apply, or to just simply find out more, please click here.
