What would you do if this was your neighbour?

[needingadviceandthoughts]

Neighbour - elderly man, moved into area about 4 months ago. He doesn't really speak to anyone, doesn't look up if he is outside which is rare. Late Saturday night there was an ambulance there for about 40 mins. Couldn't see if he went with them or not. Don't think so as both paramedics sat in the front.
Next day Sunday we put a note through his door saying we noticed ambulance , if he needs any groceries or help please call.
No response to this and no sign of him. No bins out yesterday or today. Husband knocked at door but no answer.
What would you do now?

I’d think a call to 101 stating what you’ve said here that you’re concerned he might not have gone to hospital and don’t know if he’s got relatives he’s gone to stay with and you don’t know his name to ask at the local hospital. They’ll have protocols and used to this and would rather people call with concerns than not.

I'd ring the police and ask for a welfare check.

This

Yup!! I agree that this is the way to go. They get asked to do this quite often

This ^

If he normally would put his bins out and this is out of character, then say what you've said here.

Could he be in hospital or staying with family?

Yes , I'd call the police. Explain the situation & ask for a welfare check.
better safe than sorry.

Ok. What I did earlier today was messaged our local police officer/ community watch guy and explained it all to him. He said that in future call 101 but they will only come out if " there is a threat to life" and that this time he would come and knock if he " was available". I haven't heard anything back from him at all which I'm a bit disappointed about. I saw two other neighbours out with torches around the property tonight. I thought he would be able to check if the ambulance service as to whether eg the guy had been taken in on Saturday night.

Would the police reply to you with something like " no cause for concern"?

Are they able to open the door with a welfare check though? Or is it no more than knocking on it, which OP could do?

I also know he has a cat in there. The gate to his back garden was locked. He always keeps all his downstairs blinds and curtains closed btw.

Why were the neighbours there with torches? If he is there, this could of really scared him

Yes. A friend of mine didn’t respond to texts during COVID- I live in a different part of the country. I asked the police to do a welfare check. He didn’t answer the door to them and they broke in and found that he’d died.

Is it a housing association property do you know? I think you need to call the police back

Maybe trying to see if there were any lights on anywhere? It's a big house.

No it's private housing.

A friend of mine - she moved out of a rental and the new tenant was found dead on the toilet 3 weeks later.

@HoppityBun sorry to read that.

My Mum lives alone, keeps herself to herself amongst busy neighbours. We don’t get to visit often due to distance and work, but I would love it if I knew some of them were caring enough to notice if the bins weren’t out or something unusual after an ambulance visit.

I've looked at some of the policies and it seems that there is a great deal of rules and regs which relate to accountability. They will do this or that but not this....to me it reads very much like they cannot be involved unless a crime is being committed.

www.northyorkshire.police.uk/SysSiteAssets/foi-media/north-yorkshire-police/our-policies-and-procedures/professional-standards/concern-for-welfare-procedure.pdf

@needingadviceandthoughts I would contact social services. Elderly services. The police wouldn’t discover anyone in a month of Sundays. Say it’s welfare and safeguarding related.

I'm very disappointed that he hasn't messaged back to say " all ok" . I don't need details!

I think that’s awful. Our community warden would certainly check.

Good on you OP for noticing this and wanting to do something. So important to keep an eye on our neighbours, especially the vulnerable!
It’s so difficult to know what to do but hope your situation gets sorted quickly.

I feel like chasing the police officer involved but don't know if I am pushing too much as in I'm not entitled to know/ privacy etc. His responses were curt I would say.

Fair play op. I do think your community policemans response was a bit off. We are forever being told to be mindful and watch out for the elderly in our communities which is exactly what you were doing. He could have been a bit more supportive of that. I agree with pps I'd be getting back onto the police. Still no sign or noise of him or the cat and tis now Wednesday.