- Scottish Gas ramps up support in Edinburgh for customers living with dementia this winter
- Company estimates one in every 100 of its customers is living alone with dementia
- More than 20,000 staff have completed dementia awareness sessions to become ‘Dementia Friends’ – as Scottish Gas meets its pledge with the Alzheimer’s Scotland to become a dementia-friendly organisation
Scottish Gas is working with Alzheimer Scotland and the Alzheimer’s Society to encourage families, friends and carers of customers living with dementia across Scotland to contact their energy company if they are concerned about the energy account of their loved ones this winter.
Scottish Gas, which serves 10 million homes, estimates that around 100,000 customers are living alone in their homes with dementia. This equates to one in every 100 households the company serves. However, Scottish Gas believes many more customers are also supporting loved ones living with the condition.
Working with the Alzheimer Scotland the Alzheimer’s Society and, the company is rolling out a specialist ‘Dementia Friends’ programme to help support customers living with the condition this winter.
As a result, more than 20,000 staff – two-thirds of the company’s workforce – have now received the Dementia Friends awareness sessions. These include many of Scottish Gas’ engineers and thousands of staff across 13 contact centres.
In Edinburgh, more than 400 people working at Scottish Gas’ site in the city are now Dementia Friends. Many other local engineers – who regularly visit customers’ homes in the surrounding area – are also becoming Dementia Friends, as well as other engineers working the breadth of Scotland.
The Dementia Friends programme helps staff to understand the challenges people with dementia may face – whether customers or their own friends and family – and how they can better support them.
Scottish Gas has worked with customers living with dementia to help tailor services, such as its Power of Attorney scheme, to be more dementia friendly. The company also offers customers requiring extra support the opportunity to join its Priority Services Register, which provides access to additional support services such as free gas safety checks for almost three million customers.
Since June, British Gas has recorded around 3,000 calls from families, friends and carers of customers living with dementia to ask for them to be added to the Priority Services Register.
Steve Crabb, Director responsible for Consumer Vulnerability at Scottish Gas, said: “Our engineers and our people in contact centres are the first port of call for many of our customers. That’s why we’re delighted that 20,000 of our people have committed to becoming Dementia Friends.”
“Reaching this important milestone in our work with the Alzheimer Scotland and the Alzheimer’s Society is an important part of our commitment towards becoming a dementia-friendly organisation.”
Rob Burley, Director of Campaigns and Partnerships at Alzheimer’s Society, said: “Dementia is one of the greatest challenges we face in society today and is set to become the 21 century’s biggest killer. So we are delighted that Scottish Gas is getting ready to help customers with dementia this winter by making a commitment to become more dementia-friendly.
“Becoming a dementia-friendly business is a socially responsible step and has added business benefits. We encourage all utility companies to work with us and do the same.”
Alzheimer’s Society offers general advice to help support those living with dementia here:
Find out more about Scottish Gas’ Priority Services Register here or call 0800 072 8625 to find out more about extra support available for loved ones this winter.
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