Supporting clients between care visits

Can technology help UK home care become more proactive?

For many people receiving home care, independence means being able to remain in their own home with the right level of support around them.

A care worker may visit in the morning to help someone get ready for the day, with another visit later in the afternoon or evening. These interactions provide essential human contact and care, but they also raise an important question: what happens during the hours in between?

Technology-enabled care has traditionally helped people raise an alarm when they need assistance. Pendant alarms and similar services continue to play an important role. At the same time, newer wearable technologies are creating opportunities to complement this reactive model with a more proactive understanding of a person's safety, activity and wellbeing.

From reacting to an alarm to understanding change

A wearable may be able to detect a fall, allow the wearer to raise an SOS, provide location information or identify changes in activity. Some solutions also enable two-way voice communication, allowing the individual to speak directly through the device when support is needed.

For a home-care provider, however, the technology itself is only part of the equation. The more important question is whether the information it provides can support an existing care model in a useful, proportionate and manageable way.

The objective should not be to monitor everything. It should be to identify information that may help carers, families or monitoring teams make better-informed decisions and respond appropriately when something changes.

Technology has to work for the person wearing it

When services are designed for older people, simplicity matters. A solution that performs perfectly in a demonstration can be far less successful in everyday life if the wearer finds it uncomfortable, forgets to charge it or needs to navigate a smartphone application to use basic functions.

The practical details matter: whether an SOS control is obvious, whether charging is straightforward, whether the device is comfortable enough for everyday wear, whether it can operate without the wearer managing a smartphone, and whether the person understands what will happen when they ask for help.

Adoption matters. Even a technically sophisticated solution provides little value if the person stops wearing it after the first week.

More information does not automatically mean better care

As technology becomes capable of generating more information and alerts, providers also need to consider the operational impact. If a person's usual activity changes significantly, who should review that information? Should a family member be contacted, should a care coordinator call the client, or should the situation be escalated to a monitoring service?

Without a clear response pathway, additional information can simply create additional workload. Providers should therefore consider alert thresholds, responsibilities, escalation processes and how technology fits alongside existing care plans and safeguarding procedures before moving to scale.

Privacy and consent are equally important. People should understand what information is being collected, who can see it and how it will be used. Technology should support independence without making the person feel that they are under constant surveillance.

Technology should complement human care

Home care is fundamentally human. Relationships, judgement, conversation and personal knowledge of the individual cannot be replicated by a wearable device.

Technology can, however, provide another layer of support around those relationships, particularly during periods when a care worker is not physically present.

Putting the principles into practice

These considerations are particularly relevant as new technologies emerge to support people living independently. Wearable solutions can offer features such as fall detection, emergency alerts, activity monitoring and two-way communication, potentially providing reassurance for individuals, families and care providers.

However, the technology itself is only one part of the equation. How it fits around existing care visits, who responds to alerts and whether clients feel comfortable wearing and using the device are equally important considerations.

Five questions to ask before introducing wearable technology

Start small and learn from real users

For home-care organisations considering this type of technology, a small real-world evaluation can often provide more useful insight than a lengthy technical assessment alone.

A pilot can include clients with different needs and circumstances and examine practical questions: Do people actually wear the device? Is onboarding straightforward? Are alerts useful? How do families respond? Does the technology create additional workload for care teams? What happens when an alert needs to be escalated?

Most importantly, providers should ask the people wearing the technology whether it helps them feel supported and confident while preserving their independence and dignity.

The opportunity is not to replace home care with technology. It is to use technology intelligently during the hours when a care worker cannot physically be there. As more people choose to remain in their own homes for longer, understanding how to support those hours between visits is likely to become increasingly important for the UK home-care sector.

About the author

Andrey Byakov is the Managing Director of MSE Medical UK, which provides technology-enabled care solutions for the UK market, including G-CARE.