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IIt is never easy to take care of an elderly parent with dementia, especially if you are away for a three -hour ride. But Rhona d’Arcy can watch her mother Heather White (86 despite the distance, thanks to a system of AI monitors in her home.
Heather has vascular dementia, but can only afford to visit private carers twice a day.
To receive more support, she will have to sell her home and go into care – something that the fiercely independent former advisor is determined that she does not want to do.
Instead, a remote monitoring system checks how often Heather moves between rooms, when using the bathroom, whether she uses the fridge and kettle, the temperature of the house and when people get into and along the front door.
And because the system uses AI to learn Heather’s normal behavior, it warns her daughter if something is going on – such as if she is unusual, the bathroom goes more than normal or leaves the home unexpectedly. If she gets a warning, call Rhona Heather, or asks her local caregivers or family members to look at her.
“I have so much information about what’s going on that really helps me communicate with her,” Rhona said. “I know if she had a bad night, or that she didn’t move all morning and maybe feel a little low, so I can call her for a chat.
“And because I can see how many visitors she had or how much she was at night, I can ask her relevant questions that can help her talk about things she wouldn’t remember otherwise.”
The family was one of the first to test an AI home care system named Lilli, which is now used by 12 councils in England and Wales, including Nottingham City, Medway and Reading. Another 51 local authorities use another AI-powered system called Miicare, which uses a combination of monitors and an interactive AI-Lid speaker.
Across the country, at least two in five social care providers are now using adults now these systems to enable care staff to remotely monitor the elderly and vulnerable people. The goal is to ensure that people in need get faster help, while those with lower needs do not have unnecessary visits and are not transferred too early in residential care.
The Labor Government insists that more areas record similar technology via its Better Care Fund, a £ 9bn pot for NHS and local authorities to help people live at home independently. Earlier this year, West Streeting, health and social care secretary, told NHS services and councils to invest in the prioritization of people to keep out of the hospital and care homes for as long as possible.
Economists believe that distance monitoring technology could save the NHS £ 1.2 billion by 2035 by enabling earlier discharge from the hospital and detecting health problems before needs hospital treatment.
Councils have already announced that thousands of such systems are saving. In Nottingham, for example, the installation of Lilli systems in 48 homes meant that patients discharged from the hospital could go directly instead of taking care of the care, saving the council nearly £ 54,000.
Medway Council estimated that it saved £ 30,000 a week with the technology, while the Reading Borough Council said it saved 25 percent for each person receiving care.
By cutting 2400 hours of routine care visits, another 12 people were able to receive care without increasing staff numbers. Caroline Abrahams, charity director at Age UK, said: “Ai-powered monitoring can help older people stay independent and in their own homes.
“It is especially valuable if it liberates careers to spend more time with older people.” But she emphasized that it was essential to find ‘the right balance between intrusion and safety’.
Critics warn that councils that are too much stretched can use the technology to cut visits to face. Simon Lord, head of innovation at the Alzheimer’s Society, said: “Tools like this can be a useful element of a package of care, if suitable for the individual and their situation, but they should not replace all face-to-face contact. Even if someone can be monitored and that they can be safe, they can still feel lonely, socially isolated.”
Dr Henry Collingham, an innovation fellow in design at Northumbria University specializing in dementia, said rising wage accounts mean that it could probably cut “undervalued” face to face, which put the elderly at risk.
“The cornerstone of good care is a human connection … The work of carers is often just talking and measuring how someone is doing,” he added. ‘If a caregiver is partially replaced by a system that is just looking for one set of flags, there is a risk that completely other warning signs may be missed. Someone can rise and open the fridge as usual, but if their voice has changed or looks out of the spirit, the monitors can’t pick it up. ‘
But for Rhona, of Farnborough, Hampshire, the AI system gives her reassurance between the monthly journeys she makes to see her mother in Grantham, Lincolnshire.
“It doesn’t replace the care, it increases it,” she said. “It helps me and the caregivers to support her, but it wouldn’t be on its own enough. But because I can see how the day or night is going, it’s really reassuring. Since I can’t just see her to see her, it gives me peace of mind knowing she’s in order. ‘
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