topic Re: Dementia - Sky Q Home screen in Sky Q

Dementia - Sky Q Home screen

nufc+fan — Sun, 28 Dec 2025 21:48:34 GMT

I've discussed this with a Sky Customer Services rep on the phone, but here goes in case anyone from Sky picks up on the issue.

My Mother in law has dementia. She gets confused by multiple remotes, so only uses the Sky Q control - The power button to turn it off and the large Sky button to turn it on. The TV eventually goes to sleep when Sky Q is turned off and wakes when it's turned back on.

Unfortunately, Sky have chosen to have the Home Screen as the default 'wake' screen and this is not timed out. This means she is faced with the small picture in the corner, so every morning we drop in (on an Echo show) we have to guide her to the 'exit' key which 'is to the left of the house key' [we have to follow that script]. When we drop in the other times (on Alexa) she mostly turns off Sky Q, so we have to turn it back again before we finish. [she turns it off as she can't talk to us and have the TV on]

Life would be so much easier if the Home screen timed out, even if it was 5 or 10 minutes. We've had days when we've dropped in and she has been staring at the 'little picture' for hours.

Re: Dementia - Sky Q Home screen

xenon81 — Sun, 28 Dec 2025 22:49:15 GMT

The home screen does time out after 10 minutes.

To make sure of this i've just turned the Sky Q box to stand by, then switched it back on at 22:35 and the home screen appeared with "Today's Top Picks" etc. I left it for 10 minutes and at 22:45 it automatically switched to full screen TV.

There are no options to disable the timeout so it should be doing the same for your Mother in Law. Is she perhaps pressing buttons on the remote that might reset the timeout countdown?

Re: Dementia - Sky Q Home screen

nufc+fan — Mon, 29 Dec 2025 09:51:02 GMT

I'll try ours, but button pressing and trying to change channels is a thing she does. I've previously posted about her making her way to channels that have a pin (some of the daytime police channels).

Yes, it timed out after ten minutes even from just pressing the home key. It's a little more clarity on the culprit. I wouldn't be surprised if she 'turned the bloody thing off' if she couldn't get a proper picture & then turned it back on again, so going through a cycle of not reaching the timeout 10 minutes.

Thank you for your answer.

Re: Dementia - Sky Q Home screen

TimmyBGood — Mon, 29 Dec 2025 09:57:43 GMT

@nufc+fan

Frankly it's an ongoing source of frustration that Sky apparently continues to resist the creation of UI options which could significantly enhance accessibility.

Re: Dementia - Sky Q Home screen

DaveDrizen — Mon, 29 Dec 2025 12:13:38 GMT

Though she got dementia she has learnt and remembered how to switch the box of and off is it not possible to get her to learn and remember one more operation of after switching the box on she needs to then press the exit button to get full screen before pressing any other button?

Re: Dementia - Sky Q Home screen

nufc+fan — Mon, 29 Dec 2025 18:02:39 GMT

That's not how dementia works.

Re: Dementia - Sky Q Home screen

TimmyBGood — Mon, 29 Dec 2025 18:40:28 GMT

@DaveDrizen

Very roughly speaking, dementia is a process of loss, so ingrained habits may remain long after the ability to learn new ones has gone.

I suspect the preferable solution would be for Sky to offer an option where a single button press (Power or Home) would start up either a pre-set selection, the last viewed channel or the numbered EPG.

Re: Dementia - Sky Q Home screen

MJGBS — Wed, 17 Jun 2026 08:17:25 GMT

I believe Sky are being utterly negligent and failing to fulfil their obligations to support disabled people such as those living with dementia.

A really simple fix would be to allow a default setting that avoids the Home screen and goes straight to a TV channel. A simple TV remote like the Flipper could then allow really simple use for the individual. You can disable the Home screen, but in their wisdom, Sky has decided to update their Sky Q boxes every night so the preference is reset.

I cannot understand why Sky don't address this issue, which is surely achievable IF THEY SEE IT AS A PRIORITY. Failing to do so clearly demonstrates it isn't, which shows a contemptable uncaring attitude to those experiencing cognitive decline.

Yes, I am angry! COME ON SKY, SHOW SOME RESPONSIBILITY AND CARE!

Re: Dementia - Sky Q Home screen

PandJ2020 — Wed, 17 Jun 2026 08:35:21 GMT

@MJGBS wrote:
COME ON SKY

You're not telling Sky here...