Big Brother care system to keep watch on elderly

News Reporter

Wednesday 5 September 2012

A BIG Brother-style surveillance system which can detect any potentially worrying changes in a person's behaviour is being trialled in Scotland in a bid to help elderly and vulnerable people live independently in their own homes.

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Helen McArdle

The technology, unveiled at the British Science Festival in Aberdeen, is the first of its kind in the world and is being piloted at sheltered housing complexes in the north-east of Scotland.

Developed by computer scientists at Technabling – a spin-out company of Aberdeen University – CaringAide uses a network of sensors placed around a person's home to pick up shifts in their routine which could indicate a danger to health such as the resident suffering a fall or developing signs of dementia.

The information generated by the sensors is fed into a small computerised hub which builds patterns of the person's usual day-to-day routine and, should abnormal conditions or events occur, an electronic message is sent for further assessment to a remote care centre which is staffed by professional carers around the clock. If immediate action needs to be taken the person's care contact or network of support is alerted. It is hoped the technology will help tackle the country's rising care burden as increasing numbers of people live alone and live longer, often with chronic diseases and mental health problems. Dr Ernesto Compatangelo, the founder and director of Technabling, said: "The technology aims to prevent emergency situations that could take place in the home of an elderly person, who is living independently, by providing an early warning about a potential problem days or weeks before it could become critical."A typical example might be that you generally go to bed at a certain time and you wake up at a certain time during the day."So if you start waking every day half an hour later and go to bed half an hour earlier, this is enough for the system, after two or three days, to send an alert that your sleep pattern has changed in a way that is not explainable behaviour. "If you stop preparing hot meals for yourself during the day or if you're not having lunch at all, typically this is the type of thing that could be used as a measuring tool for seeing whether there is the early onset of dementia."The system being trialled in various flats inhabited by old and vulnerable people. A computerised infrastructure linked to internet cameras can also be used as part of the system, but Dr Compatangelo played down fears users would feel they were being watched. The software is designed to protect privacy by processing images making use of multiple encryption and security technologies so that these are not accessible or visible unless authorised. He said: "Sometimes when we talk about webcams and video, people may begin invoking the issues of spying, privacy intrusion and so on. "But all our three trial sites are extremely happy over having the whole lot in their own homes and obviously are eager to see what the results are. We should be able to draw initial conclusions on the system's success by the end of this year."Among the pilot venues is Maud in Aberdeenshire, a housing support service run by the charity Cornerstone, which is home to six people with learning disabilities and mental health issues. Edel Harris, chief executive of Cornerstone, said: "Caring-Aide differs from other telecare products on the market in that it learns behaviour and then alerts care staff if there is a major difference in usual patterns. "In this context, far from being intrusive, the technology can enable users to live more independently."The science festival, which is back in Scotland for the first time in 11 years, will run until Sunday.

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Big Brother care system to keep watch on elderly

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