A pilot scheme is aiming to keep elderly Alzheimer's Disease sufferers safe in their homes.

The project involves installing sensors to the external doors of clients' homes. If a door is opened during a pre-set time an alert is sent to the community alarm centre.

Durham Social Services is pioneering the system through its People at Home and in Touch project, which aims to protecting clients in the early stages of the disease. The scheme has also been designed to help release almost 400 care home bed days.

Pam Mills, Durham County Council's People at Home and in Touch Project Officer, said: "One of the first stages of dementia is the confusion of the body clock. People have difficulty differentiating between day and night."

She said the alarm system could help to avoid distressing cases such as one that occurred in Durham a few years ago, when an 83-year-old man was found dead in a field three months after wandering from his home in the middle of the night.

Social services is operating the project in partnership with the District of Easington, Easington Primary Care Trust and Tynetec, the company which manufactures the device.