Any ideas on ways to divert my mum from the phone ?

[CMOTDibbler]

She doesn't understand what people say to her on it, then forgets what she does understand . But doesn't know/acknowledge that its an issue. Obv Dad tries to get there first, but he's not always right there (and is v slow on his feet), and then it all gets a bit fraught. He was not cut out to be a carer, and is struggling with the new reality of her.

So any ideas on how to reduce the issue ?

cordless phone that he keeps in his shirt pocket?

good thought, but at some point she would put it 'somewhere safe', never to be seen again

Could they turn the ringer off and rely on the answer phone/1471 service and your Dad just check for messages twice per day or something?

ah, but you can get ones that you can ring from the base unit, so you can locate the handset.

Ooh, thats a good idea Random, dad can manage that.
Just concerned about it going in the freezer/dishwasher/shed Hectate. Things have started to turn up in the most peculiar places, and poor dad has enough to do without having a treasure hunt for the phone !

With our answer phone you can set the number of rings it does before it is answered. You could set it to one or two rings and your Dad can get it if he's right near it or let the answer machine take the call if he's not.

Don't get a cordless phone if you are worried about the handset being mislaid.
If the handset is off its base for too long (say 24 hrs) then the rechargeable battery runs out and it won't ring when the base unit's "find phone" button is pressed.

Do your parents have a pendant service (alarms round their necks / wrists)? If they do then speak to the wardens as you can set up their phone so that callers speak through the speaker unit so your dad will hear regardless of who answers the phone.