[Vicky.]

Dementia does not always absolve them of blame. And age does not necessarily mean they will have dementia either.

My mother works with people with various stages of dementia and a fair few of her patients know what they are doing at least some of the time, usually more often than that. She actually has an ex boxer on her ward, who broke my mother hand not long ago, and a colleagues nose not long afterwards. Along with numerous black eyes and such. Yet still knows what he is doing most of the time and honestly, is just a horrible twat for the sake of it. yes, he is also ill, abnd will probably get worse too. But getting worse may actually make him less dangerous, as he actively chooses to attack now. He may well not attack at all once his mind is gone and the choice is removed from him.
Best wait to find out the actual facts before removing the blame tbh

What I do agree with, is that home based carers should be in 2s, not on their own.

But even being surrounded by staff does not prevent attacks. My mother is black and blue much of the time (though had serious injuries very rarely, until this guy was brought onto her ward). And there is never less than 10 staff on the ward at a time.