PEOPLE with dementia in Hampshire are being kept safer thanks to a scheme which uses state-of-the-art technology.

A personal safety device with a GPS tracker is being offered to people with a diagnosis of the condition who are in the middle stages of living with dementia but who still want to live at home independently.

The device is offered as part of a partnership scheme between Hampshire County Council, Hampshire Constabulary and the PA Consulting Group-led Argenti Care Technology Partnership.

Each year police officers are asked to search for around 120 vulnerable adults, and many are elderly and live with some form of dementia and get lost unintentionally.

The tracker device is linked to the internet which means the person’s movements can be tracked, and an alert can also be set to trigger an alarm if a person leaves their pre-set ‘safe zone’.

Detective Chief Inspector Hampshire Constabulary Dave Brown said: “The review of the first year of this scheme shows that it can have a positive impact to people living with dementia. This technology is enabling independence and giving carers peace of mind. It also helps us to quickly locate a missing person, who could be at real risk.”

The number of missing person episodes for the people taking part has more than halved and 65 per cent of those people have not been reported missing to police since being given the device.

County council leader Roy Perry believes the scheme highlights how important sharing knowledge can be. Cllr Perry said: “As the world of technology moves forward rapidly, we want to ensure that in Hampshire, we are embracing the significant opportunities that it brings, to support people to live well and stay safe.

"This scheme is an excellent example of how new innovations and partnerships are helping to support Hampshire’s growing elderly population. By sharing the expertise and knowledge we have gained through this project, together with our work with the PA Consulting Group-led Argenti Partnership on our nationally acclaimed telecare service, we have been able to support many thousands of elderly people to continue to live independently in their own homes.”

The scheme is available to people in Hampshire who are at risk of going missing as a result of living with dementia or other memory loss. It was launched widely in January 2016, following a successful pilot scheme.