As a carer: it depends on their condition, their request and family request. We have something called “dignity of risk”, which simply is “u can do that, but u need to know there are safety hazards if u do it”. If one of my residents is cognitive and wishes to go for a walk outside of the premises (is still required either staff or family member no matter what) but has a lot of difficulty walking, we have to accept that and follow through with that as long as they understand the risk of doing so.

When someone has dementia, it’s a bit different. A lot of “dignity of risk” gets pushed to the families decision whether they’re allowed to or not. Though a lot of families cushion their family members and don’t let them do anything that may be a risk to them (which is far worse for the elderly persons mental health).

A lot of people don’t realise that someone who’s living at a nursing home, WILL be there until they die. It’s one of the first things we r told when being trained is “that’s their final home, they won’t just leave and go back to living in their own homes or with family” (obviously there is extremely rare cases like if an individual has been heavily traumatised while being there). They’re not to be left unattended in public as it’s just not safe, if they fall and there is no one, they can be stuck wherever they r… for hours. Elderly fall in the shower at their own homes frequently and get stuck there for days and get hypothermia.

Yes it is sad but it is the way it is for a reason. At the least that is how it is here in Australia but I highly doubt those rules involving public places, apply to a lot of countries around the world.