Taking Care has selected Anthropos to power its latest offering, Taking Care Safe Home Alert. The Anthropos platform that has been proven to deliver trustworthy, accurate intelligence and to provide products that are centred around the end user and bring reassurance to families.
Supporting an ageing population
In the UK alone, there are approximately 3.64 million people aged 65 and above who live on their own. This number is expected to continue to rise and this creates a concern for the mental and physical well-being of our ageing population, both amongst families as well as healthcare professionals.
An ageing population requires support systems which will enable them to maintain independence without compromising safety or quality of life. Advanced tools such AI (artificial intelligence) and data analytics technologies can help family members gain insights and flag potential problems, even when they can’t physically be with their loved one.
The effect on health services
Some of the challenges faced by an older demographic are dementia, diabetes, heart diseases, Alzheimer’s disease and other illnesses where mobility is decreased. Thus, the need for health care services increases, exerting added pressure on the National Health Services as well as private health care providers; increasing the demand for staff and their services.
The additional pressure caused by the current global pandemic has highlighted the need to find new ways to support and provide care to those at risk. Heightened anxiety levels for families separated from their loved ones, regardless of age or current levels of health and wellbeing, make AI driven insights highly appealing to those family members who want a way to easily and quickly check whether their loved one is moving around the house, eating and drinking properly when they can’t be there with them.
Smart homes for the elderly
Smart homes for the elderly have great potential to offer a way to unobtrusively monitor health and wellness, whilst allowing people to remain independent in the homes they love.
Smart home sensors can help carers and family members to identify and predict problems by monitoring for changes in the activities of the inhabitant.
How Taking Care Smart Home Alert can help
The Taking Care Smart Home Alert allows family to know what is happening when they can’t be with their loved ones every day and may not notice changes in their daily routine that could indicate they need more support. Taking Care Smart Home Alert will comprise of five motion sensors, a room temperature sensor, two door sensors, a fridge sensor and two smart plugs for the kettle and microwave.
The sensors will be monitored 24/7 by Taking Care’s highly trained Emergency Resolution team who will alert the user’s contacts or the emergency services if they receive an alert that requires immediate action, such as if the front door has been left open at night or the user is in bed long past their usual wake time.
The Taking Care Smart Home Alert package will also include an alarm pendant that will allow the user to call and get help from the Emergency Resolution team day or night.
Steve Gates, Managing Director at Taking Care said:
“This is a ground-breaking new product launch for Taking Care, and it is a key part of our commitment to give older adults a choice of how they access support. Our customer feedback shows this is a very important goal when it comes to helping older adults live in their own homes for longer."
"Safe Home Alert combines the skills of two authorities within the technology enabled care market to provide support that is discrete, private, tailored, will ensure family awareness of any changes in patterns of behaviour and with access to Taking Care’s 24/7 emergency resolution services in the event of an accident or fall.”
With restrictions being applied to those aged over 70, including potentially needing to self-isolate for weeks, or months, being able to provide families with reassurance and insight has never been more important.
Jim Patience, CEO at Anthropos said:
“We are delighted to be working with Taking Care as we know that both companies are focused on helping older people stay safe and well in their own homes for longer. Adding our remote monitoring capabilities to the existing award-winning services from Taking Care will create something new in the market and offer an increased level of re-assurance to families at a time when many are worried about isolated and shielding loved ones.”
