A vulnerable woman with dementia was found on a lifeboat ramp in Northumberland after Northumbria Police scrambled to save her.
The woman, 86, was found within an hour, as the police used vital information provided by her family to identify her "known haunts", and rapidly spotted her just metres from the sea in Newbiggin where she appeared to have developed the early stages of hypothermia. She was escorted to safety and taken to hospital by North East Ambulance Service.
The woman was reported missing shortly after 1am on Wednesday morning, and officers were immediately dispatched to the Northumberland town. Thanks to the information supplied,. disaster was averted.
Ch Insp Phil Mcconville of Northumbria Police said: "Thanks to the swift action and teamwork from our officers and our partners at NEAS, a vulnerable woman with dementia who was outdoors on her own, just meters from the sea, was safely located and escorted to safety.
"I'm so proud of the response from officers to this situation, and I’ve no doubt that had they not taken such swift and decisive action, this situation could have ended in tragedy. Northumbria Police puts vulnerability at the heart of everything we do and, with the assistance of partnership working, we will continue everything we can to secure a positive outcome."
Ch Insp Mcconville shared his thanks for NEAS and discussed the nationwide Herbert protocol - which is a scheme encouraging family and carers of people with Alzheimer's and dementia to record useful details about their loved one, that can be then used in case of emergency.
He added: "Thankfully, on this occasion, we were able to locate the woman with information from her relative, but this is not always possible."
A NEAS spokesperson said: "Yesterday morning, (Wednesday 24 May) at 2.08am we received a call from the police to reports of a person injured outside the lifeboat station on Prospect Place, Newbiggin-by-the-Sea. We dispatched an ambulance crew who transported the patient to the Northumbria Specialist Emergency Care Hospital (NSECH) for further treatment."
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