Have been the person who let them in. Parked everyone but police in front room, got them out of bed and convinced them to dress and come into the front room because these people were here, and they’d control what happened better by being dressed.
Police were brilliant and sat outside by agreement while assessment took place, with agreement that SW would ping them if urgently needed. Police presence would have ramped things up massively and feeling they could control that was key. They were sectioned and I translated it as they had to see the Dr at the hospital to prove they were right as always, and this was all rubbish.
I didn’t expect it but in the end managed to convince them to go in the ambulance with me, and police very kindly pulled back, so from the neighbors POV, they saw older person walk out to an ambulance on the arm of a paramedic chatting, with muggins trailing behind with a bag, and the police not necessarily having a connection. Getting them to feel they were controlling what others saw, and that they had control of the police, was what made the exit less awful, but they had once been dragged out under arrest, and I don’t know how much it played into things.
Assessment and paperwork took longer than I'd expected, and SW and AMHP then wanted to to make up lost time which nearly caused a flash point.
Police and paramedics were brilliant and happy to take cues from me to make things less horrible and officious for detained person. SW and AMHP more intent in ensuring person understood what exactly was being done to them and how they had no choice or control. Probably their role tbf, but not actually in that person’s immediate interests.
They too were filling in the gaps convincingly, but its about the right questions. I’d fitted new dead locks to convince them the neighbor (who’d once broken in for them) wasn’t able to steal their food and crockery, and it was only when the right question was asked that they revealed neighbor came through the ceiling nightly and repaired it to cover their tracks and make people think resident was crazy.
The sense of being Judas has never left, I knew they’d never see their home, garden or possessions again and I knew how bad that would be for them. However, being there made things better for them shorter and longer term. I let them believe their home and possessions remained waiting for them to return and I was guarding it all. It seemed a kinder lie and helped them deal with what followed.
Hospital was scary and grim and I spent as much time as I could there with them. Unexpectedly they just stopped being violent to me. Having cleaning materials and food on me was invaluable, and name tapes in their clothes didn't help but did reassure.
Be brave, this is horrible, but the kindest thing you can do is shoulder it and minimize the pain of the reality and be a familiar face afterwards.
(You probably know but longer-term section needs to be converted to a section 3 so 117 kicks in, to protect assets/other parent financially.)