Intro
A community minded app for people with dementia if they are missing
Purple Alert is a free mobile app which sends an alert to the community if someone with dementia is missing in their area.
The app is free to download and you can quickly sign up to be part of the community. You will then get a notification if someone is missing in your area and you can keep an eye out for them. If you find the missing person, you can easily contact their carer via the app.
If you’re caring for someone with dementia, you sign up in the exact same way, but you can also add a profile for your loved one. If they are missing, after phoning 999, you may raise a Purple Alert and everyone with the app within 20 miles radius will be notified.
Watch the video to learn how Purple Alert works.
Download the all new Purple Alert Scotland app
On iOS
On Android
How it all started
In 2015 we looked at how we could harness the power of communities to make walking safer for people with dementia. After 32 months of designing, developing and testing we launched the app in 2017, which by then aligned with the newly published National Missing Persons Framework for Scotland. The app was an instant success and was being used throughout Scotland, but it also became a benchmark internationally, in the field of ‘missing’.
In 2020 the app was completely redesigned and relaunched, taking into account the added challenges of Covid-19 and all that we learned in the first 2 years since launch.
Although Purple Alert core functionality has been the same since day one, we have been working with our partners (Police Scotland, Scottish Government, Missing People, NHS, HSCP’s to name a few) to ensure all the existing services are aligned before, during and after someone with dementia is missing.
Below you can find some of these resources and services. They have been developed together with our partners and the families affected by dementia, with the goal of making Scotland a safer place in regard to missing.
Resources for families
Preventative, Emergency and Reflective toolkits
A Step-by-step guide for families designed to help before, during and after someone with dementia is missing.
The Herbert Protocol
We think the Herbert Protocol is as important as Purple Alert. The Herbert Protocol is a form designed to make sure that if someone goes missing, the Police can get access to important information about that person as soon as possible. We highly recommend you print this form and fill it in with as much information as possible now, before a moment of crisis. Then keep it in a safe place and give it to the Police if the person you're caring for goes missing.
Resources for the community
Good practice guide
Simple guidelines for the Purple Alert community of users. This toolkit explains what to do if someone is missing in your area. It's a short 'good practice' document to make sure you can help finding the missing person in a meaningful way.
Spread the word
You can make your area safer for people with dementia by raising awareness about Purple Alert. You can share this page by using the social media buttons below, or simply tell a friend, a colleague or a neighbour to download the app. If you would like your organisation to endorse or sponsor Purple Alert, do get in touch and we'll be supporting you throughout.
What's next
We have some ambitious and innovative ideas to keep Purple Alert a pioneering service with people with dementia’s wellbeing at its core. Some of these ideas are at embryonic stage and require funding, some are being piloted and will be hopefully implemented nation-wide.
Work in progress
Return Discussions
We started a pilot project in collaboration with Edinburgh Police and the University of Edinburgh called Return Discussions. These are conversations carried out within 72 hours from someone returning home after a missing occurrence. The aim of these conversations is to comfort, advise and signpost families to further support. Edinburgh Police will refer families to our Dementia Advisor who will follow up the missing episode, while the University of Edinburgh will help us analysing qualitative and quantitative data during a 6 months period.
This project has been funded by the RS Macdonald Charitable Trust and the Kirkwood Memorial Fund.
Collaboration with Police Scotland in Argyle and Bute.
Following the success of the Dementia Safeguarding Scheme launched by Somerset and Avon Police, we are collaborating with Police Scotland to pilot a similar scheme in Argyle and Bute.
As part of the scheme, families caring for someone with a diagnosis of dementia will be prompted to download Purple Alert, fill out the Herbert Protocol form and to request an electronic keyring for the person they are caring for. This electronic keyring holds information about the person with dementia and can be used by anyone with a smartphone to contact their next of kin. Read more about the Dementia Safeguarding Scheme in Somerset here.
Purple Alert Technical Support
Please note that Purple Alert is not an Emergency Service. If someone is missing, please dial 999 immediately.
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If you require further assistance, please contact us on [email protected]
We are a small team and we will try answer your queries within 7-10 working days.