Reassurance Services – A New Frontier for Digital Social Care

Social care in the UK is facing critical pressure. Demand for support is rising as more older adults choose to live independently, while domiciliary care capacity continues to shrink. Many people living alone (4 million people in the UK) are not yet ready for traditional home care, but their families still worry about safety, wellbeing and early signs of decline. This gap between concern and care is exactly where a new technology-based approach to care provision – reassurance services – can transform support for older adults.

A reassurance service provides professional oversight without requiring daily visits. Families get peace of mind knowing that a care professional is monitoring routine patterns and wellbeing indicators, while the older adult maintains dignity and autonomy. Care agencies routinely turn down enquiries relating to “checking in” rather than physical care, so the potential business impact for providers, of making a reassurance service available, is significant.

 

Ideally, a platform to support a reassurance service captures and reports data from non-intrusive sensors (e.g. door opening, plug activation, environmental monitoring), to help understand daily behaviour such as movement, sleep, kitchen activity and home comfort. This data helps providers review and track user wellbeing, to identify early changes and intervene sooner. The same platform needs to enable easy communication with the user – most effectively a video call.

Care providers need sustainable, dependable ways to deliver these services which, at scale, can reduce pressure on stretched teams, lower the cost of proactive support, and open access to a large population who want independence but still need regular oversight. Platforms that combine professional judgement with smart home monitoring can help providers extend independence, improve safety and modernise their digital care offering.

Historically, introducing technology into social care has been challenging. Older people may feel intimidated by devices, families often don’t understand what solutions exist, and providers face barriers such as training needs and integration overheads. However, the latest generation of care technology is different. Modern reassurance tools are discreet, simple to use and designed to enhance independence—not replace human care.

For broad uptake. the platform needs to avoid tech-anxiety with the user and their family (position the user at the centre of its design), and most importantly require minimal system / process change from the provider. A number of platforms that could enable reassurance systems are available, one of which is HomeSight – a wellness platform which uniquely enables video calls to the user’s own TV, and has a wide range of connected sensors to assess wellbeing and health.

Provided by Homesight