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Morrissey, Sol 
ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2850-7570, King, Stuart, Au-Yeung, Ben and Hornberger, Michael ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2214-3788
(2026)
Impact of a police safeguarding program on reducing dementia-related missing incidents in the United Kingdom.
Innovation in Aging.
ISSN 2399-5300
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Abstract
Background and Objectives: People living with dementia are at increased risk of missing episodes, which can have serious safety consequences for the individual as well as increasing burden for families, emergency services, and care services. A UK police safeguarding scheme was developed in response to reduce the risk of missing incidents through proactive risk management and early intervention. This study evaluates whether the safeguarding scheme effectively reduces the risk of missing incidents for individuals taking part in the scheme. Research Design and Methods: We conducted a retrospective cohort study using a police database of 846 individuals living with dementia taking part in the safeguarding scheme. Descriptive statistics and proportion comparisons were used to evaluate changes in missing incident characteristics before and after joining the scheme, stratified by risk level and dementia subtype. Results: We found that there were fewer missing incidents and fewer individuals with a recorded missing episode after joining the safeguarding scheme. Individuals with first missing incidents occurring after joining the scheme were found significantly faster (2.73 hours) than those with a first incident occurring before joining the scheme (5.39 hours). Among those identified as high-risk—individuals with a previous missing incident—81.21% did not go missing again after participating in the scheme. Individuals with Alzheimer’s disease were more likely to go missing after taking part in the safeguarding scheme than those with vascular dementia. While individuals with a history of missing incidents remained at higher risk, the majority did not go missing again after joining the scheme. Discussion and Implications: Overall, the safeguarding scheme was effective in reducing the rate of missing incidents among people with dementia. These findings promote the proactive use of police safeguarding programs and suggest that widespread implementation could improve safety and independence for people living with dementia.
| Item Type: | Article |
|---|---|
| Uncontrolled Keywords: | das in place,the dataset used for analysis will not be made publicly available due to the sensitive nature of the dementia safeguarding scheme database. the study was not preregistered. ,/dt/atira/pure/keyword/DAStatement/das_in_place |
| Faculty \ School: | Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences > Norwich Medical School |
| Related URLs: | |
| Depositing User: | LivePure Connector |
| Date Deposited: | 28 Oct 2026 15:33 |
| Last Modified: | 28 Oct 2026 20:01 |
| URI: | https://ueaeprints.uea.ac.uk/id/eprint/104902 |
| DOI: | 10.1093/geroni/igaf132 |
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