By IRENE OLDFATHER, Director, Strategic Partnerships and Engagement

AS the nights become darker and the weather becomes really wintery, I can’t help but think of the case of Janet MacKay. Janet was an 88-year-old lady with dementia from Knightswood, Glasgow, who went missing just over two years ago. Sadly, Janet was found dead in Clydebank, where she had lived in her younger years, some eight days after she disappeared.

It’s hard to imagine the nightmare that Janet’s family must have gone through when she was missing. It’s equally hard to imagine over those eight days how lonely and confused she must have been. It appears from CCTV that Janet got on and off at least one bus, went in and out of shops and remained lost and alone for all of that time.

Janet’s case is a tragedy and made me think about how as a society we respond to such difficult situations. Are we too risk-averse? Do we not want to interfere?

I remember a member of the Scottish Dementia Working Group describing to me finding himself in the city centre in Glasgow and panicking because he couldn’t remember how to get home. He told me he sat on a bench in George Square until the “fog” he felt was around his head lifted. He’s not sure how long that took; it could have been hours. He didn’t feel able to speak to someone or ask for help.

Are there lessons that we can learn and solutions we can find to help people with dementia when they feel lost; or should we just expect them to stay home?

I can think of nothing worse than being cooped up and not allowed out.There are potential digital solutions that could provide something of a safety net. Adapted mobile phones are used by some people with dementia but, if you forget to take your phone or lose it while you’re out, you’re back to square one. At a solutions lab I attended on innovation and dementia a man with dementia said he would be happy to be micro chipped as it would keep him safe and give a sense of comfort to his family members, who worried about him. He’d rather do that than be confined to the house all day.

New technologies being developed globally allow for a form of GPS to be encoded into a person’s fingernail. It may be some time before this type of technology is available to anyone wishing or requiring it.While digital has a role to play, what about the human factor? Could we do more as individuals to be alert to someone lost or in distress?

The “commitment” in the new National Dementia Strategy to “consider” Police Scotland’s findings on missing persons is much to be welcomed but it is too weak. While the police were severely criticised in the Janet MacKay case for 17 failings in relation to inappropriately handling the investigation, some debate and discussion on how as a society we ensure the protection of vulnerable adults and hold organisation’s like Police Scotland to account is a much wider issue.

How do we raise awareness? What are the range of digital options that are economically feasible and, when someone is reported missing, how can we be confident in the police and community response?

We can’t just leave this to vague guidance and chance. A working group involving representatives of those families living with dementia, independently chaired and reporting with solid recommendations for action in the very short term would be a good start. If the Janet MacKay tragedy had been about a child, society would rightly be outraged and we would have seen more than just “consideration of the issues”.

Vulnerable older people and those who are mentally frail deserve better than a vague commitment. It’s time to act.