The Safe at Home project has enabled people with dementia to remain independent for longer, receiving the care and support they need in their own homes through the use of assistive technology, and has brought the local agencies in Northamptonshire equivalent savings of over £1.5 million over the 21 months during which research took place. Read more.
Buy the report from Careinfo’s website.
Care workers descended on Northumberland County Hall on Tuesday to protest against the possible closure of residential homes in Ashington and Morpeth. Workers donned black Save Our Services T-shirts and carried placards and banners to protest. The staff are backed by the GMB, Unison and the FBU, coming together under the banner of Defend our Public Services. The protesters are trying to persuade the council that care for the elderly should be kept in the public sector. Read the article here.
Comment: There are good, reasonable arguments for reviewing and reconfiguring services for older people. It’s not just about quality of facilities, but about keeping them out of hospitals and residential care by allowing technology to do what it is good at (monitoring, alerting and aiding) and releasing people to do what they are good at (the personal touch). In a public debate reminiscent of when mental health services were being reconfigured from long-stay hospitals to community services, why aren’t these arguments coming across? Did no one learn the public relations lessons from those situations?
Local councils will share £2.6million to set up systems and run the pilots for between 18 months and two years. Individual budgets will help vulnerable older and disabled people take control of their own social care budgets, manage their support and choose the services that suit them best.
Health staff and therapists at a Surrey PCT have launched a not-for-profit firm to supply their services to their former employer. Sign of the times…
A medical alert system and the quick thinking of an 82-year-old woman may have prevented a serious assault, police said. Read more.
Greater technological empowerment is the key to living arrangements for older people in the not-too-distant future. US article with ‘assisted living guru’ Craig L. Smith. Read here.
The Motorola Homesight Wireless Easy Starter Kit has been generating interest in computing and other techie press since the early October announcement that it was to be sold exclusively through PC World in the UK. Most reviews have concentrated on its use for home or office security monitoring. However, with its range of add-on monitoring devices such as wireless day and night vision cameras, movement detectors, water (flood) sensor, door/window sensors, temperature sensor, it would be possible to set this up as a telecare system.
Devices can trigger each other. So a movement sensor in a bedroom can be programmed only to operate at night, and to switch on a light if someone gets up, or the flood sensor can activate a camera. Events triggered by the system can be sent via email or text. With additional software from ‘I’m in touch’, monitoring can be done from a remote PC (costs 99$ per year?).
Downsides seem to be: no installation or set-up help from PC World; no direct connection to emergency services; a proprietary system (so no interconnectivity with other manufacturers); ethical considerations are down to the installer. The upsides are: availability; potential for increased consumer awareness, and the prices of the add-ons seem reasonable.
Here are a selection of links for further information:
Information from the Motorola site.
PC World site. Not very informative, but each product does have a link to slightly more information. (Starter Kit is fourth entry down.) The kit is also featured in PC World’s in-store magazine, Autumn 2005 edition. Link to site.
UK review, security focused, misses the telecare monitoring potential. Scroll down the page to read the review.
Lengthy on-line US review with set-up instructions. Click here.
Finally, a link to the ‘I’m in touch’ software site.
There is also a useful review in January 2006 edition of PC Pro (p70) but this does not appear to be available on the internet yet.
The Partnerships for Older People £60m fund was originally announced by the Department of Health in March 2005, when councils were asked to bid for sums to fund local projects.
This ODPM report, published 2 November has frequent references to telecare and telehealth scattered through it and will strengthen the hand of all those who understand the need to link the social services’ agenda with wider policy concerns. Of particular note are recommendations for action 1.8 and 8 (pages 70 and 71). There is a case study on page 7 that combines telecare and telehealth monitoring with internet and email facilities. View the report here.
In a pilot scheme, volunteer residents at The Oaks sheltered housing scheme have had the small monitoring systems fitted in their homes to identify potential emergent pre-critical situations. It is tailored to monitor the resident’s environment for pre-critical signs and provides an alert signal through a variety of media (SMS, mobile phone, web enabled PC, email).
Councillor Steve Austin, Cabinet Member for Community Care & Housing said:
“We are delighted to have received this award. Merton is very keen to promote forward-thinking approaches to delivering public services, and this is an example of a project where new technology can have a real impact on improving people’s lives.” Read more.
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