You'll never walk alone

The question of whether or not to offer tracking devices to people with dementia isn’t as simple as looking out for their interests says Peter White

Disabled people have learnt the hard way over the years to be wary of the phrase: “in your own best interests”. Much has been justified under that vast umbrella including institutional care, aggressive medication, forced sterilisation – the list goes on.

Which is why when the subject of tagging of patients with dementia comes up, my antennae begin to quiver, not, I would argue, out of a kneejerk response to the infringement of liberty, but from bitter experience of how “assistance” can become “control”. My wife is a psychiatric nurse, and has spent many years working in care homes. She’s also married to me, and is, I would say, if anything even more robust than me on this issue of self-determination and personal freedom.

Yet I still remember the agony of a Sunday afternoon when the home she was running managed to lose the owner’s mother-in-law, who although in a fairly advanced stage of dementia, liked to walk alone, and had become a real expert in evading attempts to stop her.

To the credit of the home, although not least because of her good connections, no panic measures were taken, but one can guess the reaction had circumstances been different. Now, supporters of tagging can legitimately argue that this new technology enables you to contemplate more freedom, and a more relaxed ambience, because the constantly-improving technology means you will know if someone is in trouble.

Of course the real problem lies not with the technology – philosophy-neutral – but with the people who run services.

“Consultation” is one of the most abused words in the English language, and assurances that people have been “fully involved” in a decision so frequently prove spurious.

It’s so easy to lose sight of the reason care is being offered: to preserve for as long as possible someone’s ability to exercise that most human of rights: free choice. Tagging on its own will neither limit, nor increase freedom and self-respect. The way it’s used undoubtedly will.