Keeping An Eye On Grandma Over the Internet

Repost from TechCrunch
There are probably hundreds of new products launching at CES this week, but one that caught my eye has nothing to do with LCD screens or mobile ad platforms. A Sunnyvale, California startup called 4HomeMedia announced the availability of a broadband home health monitoring service called Home HealthPoint. It provides a way for family members or other caregivers to monitor an elderly person’s activities at home (through a box that talks to a broadband modem and sensors in the house) and receive alerts if something is amiss.

According to the press release:
By creating a passive monitoring network around a senior in their normal home setting, both family members and professional care-givers can log into a personalized Web page and get historical trend data, real-time status updates, and proactive alerts about the health and well-being for that monitored elder

The recommended starter kit for the IL service includes the Home HealthPoint, three motion detectors, and an emergency pendant. The motion detectors are strategically placed around the home during the professional installation in the bedroom, at the entrance to the primary bathroom, and in the main trafficked area such as a foyer or living room. Additional sensor devices such as additional motion detectors, access contacts on the refrigerator or doors, a smart pillbox, or IP cameras can be utilized to supplement the monitoring data sets being produced within the home.

Grandma can also plug in medical devices such as a digital weight scale, a blood-pressure cuff, or a glucose meter. The startup envisions this service being sold by broadband providers like cable or phone companies for an extra $30 to $100 a month, “a bargain in comparison to the on average $72,000 annual fee for transitioning a senior into an assisted living facility.”

That’s right, folks. Put an emergency pendant on Grandma, set up those motion detectors, and you can put off the nursing home for another three to five years. Want to check in on her without actually, you know, calling her? Just check the Webcam.

I can’t decide whether this represents a step forward or backwards for civilization. On the one hand, there is no doubt that something like this could definitely help improve healthcare for the elderly. Many live at home alone and an early warning system (Is Grandma eating regularly? Is she taking her pills? Has she been in bed all day?) could be a true life saver.

On the other hand, checking on whether an elderly parent is functioning normally is not the same as checking to see if your home alarm went off or you remembered to turn off the lights. (4HomeMedia also offers home-automation and remote media-management software based on the same technology). There is a limit to how much remote monitoring can be relied upon when it comes to healthcare. This is certainly better than no monitoring at all, but I wonder if it will result in giving people a false sense of security or making some elderly folks feel even more isolated than they do today.

Local community assists seniors independent living with telecare

Telecare can support vulnerable people in the community so they have better safety, care, choice and independence in their own homes.
Telecare uses discreet sensors and communications technology, which can be installed in the home to provide remote support to people who are vulnerable. It can include detectors or monitors such as bed sensors, motion or falls sensors, fire and gas detectors that trigger a warning to a response centre.

Telecare has the potential to support individuals to live at home and to complement traditional care. It can also give carers more personal freedom and reassurance.

Cllr Maureen Cummings, Cabinet Member for Adults and Health, said: “We want to do all we can to support vulnerable and older people by giving them more opportunities to be independence in their own homes.”

Read the entire article on eGov Monitor

New Telecare Technology Launched as Social Inclusion Rises

Real-time broadband teleconferencing system set to revolutionise healthcare landscape

mediagrids, specialists in broadband videoconferencing for the care industry, has today announced the launch of its next generation telecare solution; broadcare (www.broadcare.co.uk). The ground-breaking system will advance the telecare industry beyond panic buttons and voice-only call centres to enable hospitals and care centres to provide intelligent and discreet monitoring of individuals in their own environments.

Not only does this new approach allow patients to return home, but it also enables hospitals to free up valuable bed spaces. broadcare will complement today’s telephone only solutions by providing a permission-based, interactive audio-visual experience, between care centres and client’s homes using standard broadband internet connections. The system is positioned to provide enormous savings in healthcare spending, whilst at the same time improving levels of remote care for a number of groups including children, the elderly, psychiatric patients and those suffering with diabetes or dementia.

“The modern social and economic climate is driving dramatic changes in telecare,” said Chris Williams, CEO of mediagrids. “A number of issues such as the ageing population, spiralling costs in the NHS, availability of beds & care facilities and the significantly increasing importance of independent living for patients coping with a long term illness has advanced the telecare industry into a new era. Two thirds of all beds in the NHS are occupied by the elderly, yet 90% of these individuals would prefer to be at home. The good news is that half these people could return home much sooner if the appropriate levels of telecare support were in place.

”The home health hubs, when used with a camera and biometric devices; such as blood pressure and heart monitors; convert a standard television set or computer into a high quality videoconferencing and biometric workstation. Using this next generation of telecare systems, call centres can also become more proactive by scheduling regular calls into clients working with the advantage of live, visual contact which makes carers better placed to call for emergency assistance immediately if required. Statistics show that 40% of all accidents involving the elderly are falls which, in some cases, can go undetected for days.

Williams claims that broadcare will change the landscape of the healthcare industry, and the way in which care centres and hospitals liaise with patients will soon be re-written. The broadcare system is expected to have a substantial impact on how:

• clients with dementia are effectively monitored in their own homes
• the relatives of elder clients learn about falls and other such accidents that often lead to the elderly being taken into care. Intelligent cameras can also assist in the identification of falls.
• disabled clients are monitored by carers - fundamentally at the touch of a button
• recuperating clients can be allowed to return home, yet continue to be monitored remotely to ensure they are managing in their own environment
• social inclusion is inherent in the design of broadcare. Broadband is always on and charged at a fixed rate so clients can benefit from videoconferencing carers, friends and family 24 hours a day* clients can expect to stay at home longer before going into care
• care for the carers can be improved – the workload can be shared across care groups
• children in hospital interact with their parents and siblings via a permanent link for support

Source: Response Source

Independence leads list of baby boomers' old-age wishes

Minnesota's baby boomers want exactly what the state's long-term care system lacks: technology and creative programs that will help them remain independent and at home in their frail and elderly years.

That is one of the main conclusions of a study and survey being released today by Ecumen, a Shoreview-based provider of nursing homes and community services for the elderly.

Executives with the organization hope the results will inspire lawmakers and caregivers to try new approaches and programs before the massive boomer generation reaches retirement age.

Nine of 10 boomers in the survey said they want to live in their own homes rather than in rental apartments or nursing facilities. Most of the 564 survey respondents, ages 42 to 60, said they would pay more for a long-term care system that provides better community services.

"Boomers are saying, 'Give us some more options,' " said Eric Schubert, Ecumen's communications director. " 'Help us live where we want to live, how we want to live.' "

Read the entire article on St. Paul Pioneer Press

New technology tested to help European retirees

A new project, part funded by the EU, could allow more people who have retired abroad to stay in their new homes rather than having to go into residential care.

Tunstall, a company which specialises in telecare and telehealth solutions, has been chosen to head up the new Service Orientated Programmable Smart Environments for Older Europeans (SOPRANO) project.

The €12 million project hopes to find technological solutions to the problems which will be faced by people as they get older.

Running for the next three and a half years, and featuring 20 partners from six European countries, the project will seek to "develop affordable, smart IT-based assisted living services aimed at promoting independence for older people".

"Against a background of accelerating demographic ageing across Europe, the latest telecare and telehealth solutions will play a pivotal role in helping to relieve some of the growing pressure on healthcare providers," said Mike Hodges, research and development director at Tunstall.

"The low-level, round-the-clock care provided by telecare technology offers a cost-effective alternative to traditional care, while also ensuring users get the support they need in the familiarity of their home environment."

Telecare projects have previously been trailed successfully for patients suffering from dementia, but this is one of the largest European projects to test the viability of installing devices in the homes of older European citizens.

From Retire from the Sun

The Intelligent Apartment

Intelligent assisted living systems are the focus of the presentation of Fraunhofer IESE at this year's CeBIT in Hanover. A miniature version of the institute's own Assisted Living Laboratory will give visitors interesting insights into state-of-the-art research in this highly practice-relevant area. The goal is to enable elderly persons or those requiring care to remain longer in their own homes, living a self-determined life with the support of ultra-modern information technology. Fraunhofer IESE can be found in building 9 at booth B36 (Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft) and at the booth of the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research BMBF, B40.

It happens when you least expect it: A sudden circulatory weakness makes an elderly person dizzy and results in a fall. But the intelligent apartment becomes active immediately: In a realistic simulation across two fair booths, visitors can experience how the senior citizen's walking aid recognizes the accident, how the home automation system attempts on its own to communicate with the patient, and how it finally alerts the "Emergency Medical Dispatch Office". Medical experts estimate that, in the regional environment of IESE, this technique could already be used every day to save accident victims from suffering the more serious consequences of an accident.

The Assisted Living Lab, which is being introduced at the booths of the Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft and BMBF, is indeed a very special kind of laboratory environment. What appears to be hardly different from a normal living environment is equipped throughout with sophisticated sensors and electronic data processing. The objective of this effort: An apartment that proactively reacts in case of emergencies and that offers its resident the correct help at precisely the correct time, depending on the situation.

Equipment that captures data, such as RFID chips in the floor covering, motion sensors in the rooms, or everyday-type items equipped with sensors, are only parts of a much more complex overall system. The real core of the system is the software-supported networking and interpretation of the data provided by the sensors in accordance with current medical knowledge. Only this combination makes practical, context-sensitive support from the home automation system realistic.

The research performed at Fraunhofer IESE in the area of assisted living systems concentrates on the systems engineering of environments that independently recognize and assess situations on their own, based on networked sensor data. In a very general sense, this means that people are relieved of routine tasks and thus have more time for creativity. Furthermore, dangers can be averted. This should lead to cost savings not only in the health sector. Elderly persons and those requiring care will benefit from this in a particular way through better care" an obligation for society, whose importance should increase due to the demographic changes in society.

From Medical News Today

Motion sensors, virtual dinner companions and a talking pill could help baby boomers age more independently.

Today, motion sensors can monitor the comings and goings of elderly Americans so they can live safely and independently in their own homes.
One day soon, a cellular telephone will detect any new quaver in the voice, and a cuff link will notice any worrisome change of gait.

Eventually a talking computer screen will tell the elderly whether they should take an aspirin for a headache -- considering their 12 or 16 or 20 other medications.

Yesterday's science fiction is tomorrow's assisted living, say prognosticators now watching 77 million baby boomers grow old.

The boomers' wish to age independently has businesses jumping in with a host of new products and services. The businesses include giants such as Intel and Pfizer as well as Minnesota enterprises such as Shoreview-based Ecumen, a nonprofit with senior housing centers in 80 communities, and HealthSense in Mendota Heights, which sells a monitoring system it calls eNeighbor.

And for good reason: One projection has the digital home-health market growing 36 percent a year, to $2.1 billion in 2010. And the United States is behind Europe and Japan when it comes to developing such technologies.

To help new technology reach Minnesota seniors, Rep. Joe Atkins, DFL-Inver Grove Heights, plans to introduce a bill Monday with tax credits of up to $1,000 for assistive technologies -- everything from telephone amplifiers to devices yet to be imagined -- that help them stay in their homes.

Read the entire article in the StarTribube.com

Technology aims to keep elderly in own homes

Cutting-edge technology is helping hundreds of people in Fenland (England) lead independent lives by allowing them to remain, where possible, in their own homes.

The technology not only gives confidence and peace of mind to the users but also to carers who feel less anxious knowing it is in place.

And the huge transformations it is making to the lives of both young and old gives Margi Fosh great job satisfaction.

From simple tools to sophisticated sensors, technology is being used 24 hours a day, reducing the need for hospital stays and residential care home places.

"Each referral is unique and is assessed as such," Margi explained. "Systems should not be introduced simply because the technology exists, only if it adds delivery of care and confidence."

Technology is being used to help people of all ages with both mental and physical problems. "We build up a picture of what each individual needs and research what products are available to help that person," said Margi. "It is not a one-size-fits-all thing."

Even something as simple as a special clock can make a difference to users. Margi said: "Imagine how debilitating it is not to know what day of the week it is. This can lead to increased anxiety and confusion, which could be prevented by the use of a simple orientation device - a calendar clock."

The clock displays the time and date, the day of the week and whether it is am or pm.

Automated pill boxes are commonly used for those with poor memory who take time-critical medication. The box can be set to deliver timed medication and will sound an alarm when it is due. Once the medication is taken out the pill box, the alarm stops and will reset ready for the next dose of medication. The box can be filled by a pharmacist or family member.

Excert from Cambs Times

'Intelligent' homes designed to help the elderly

Scientists in Toronto say they have are developing artificially intelligent computer systems to help elderly people suffering from memory loss stay safely in their own homes.

"Often when a person gets moderate to severe levels of impairment, they are taken out of their home and put into a care facility," says lead scientist Dr. Alex Mihailidis, a mechanical and biomedical engineer and researcher at Toronto Rehabilitation Institute.

"We are using artificial intelligence to support aging-in-place so that people can remain in their homes for as long as possible."

Mihailidis and his research team at the Intelligent Assistive Technology and Systems Lab, a joint venture of Toronto Rehab and the University, say they are the first in the world to test home-based artificial intelligence systems in clinical trials.

More than 750,000 Canadians will have Alzheimer's or a related dementia by the year 2031, the researchers say.

The systems are designed to enhance the safety of such people living at home, the researchers say.

One of their creations is a "talking" bathroom outfitted with a computer screen that provides video and verbal cues to assist with hand washing.

Clifford Solway sometimes needs some prompting for certain tasks. "I have a tendency to forget things," he admits.

However, in the intelligent home, a computer voice would prompt him.

Read the entire article in CTV.ca

Changing demographics will need home-based health monitoring to keep the elderly out of institutional care

There is no avoiding it: we are all getting older. By 2017 the UK will have almost two million more people aged between 65 and 84 than it did in 2004. And by 2025 the number of over 85s will have gone up by two-thirds.

Financially, that means tricky pension arrangements and changes to the retirement age. But it is not just about money. Longer life means higher incidences of chronic complaints, such as heart disease, and more elderly people requiring care. In the context of weakening family structures and changing roles, particularly for women, the pressure on hospitals and care homes looks unsustainable.

Clearly there is no simple solution. But a good start is to find ways to help people stay out of institutional care.

This is where technology comes in. Telecare is an umbrella term for a range of networked systems to monitor safety and health at home. Examples include environmental and movement sensors, and specific clinical measurements such as heart rate or blood pressure.

Used effectively, telecare has the potential to change the structure of health and social care – helping the chronically ill stay out of hospital and allowing the elderly to live for longer in their own homes.

The financial arguments look promising. Whitehall’s Social Exclusion Unit estimated last year that reducing institutionalisation by just a single per cent could save £3.8bn.

Even more hopefully, preventative technology chimes with Labour’s wider choice agenda plans to shift healthcare away from district hospitals to community organisations.

So far, so good. But those initiatives that already exist are patchy and small scale. And while central government is starting to take an interest – with £80m-worth of Preventative Technology Grants and nascent plans for larger-scale trials – telecare is still very much on the fringes.

A report last week from the government’s national director for older people, specifically looking at how to ‘bring care closer to home’, makes no mention of technology at all.

Even the most successful schemes say the biggest challenge is proving that they make a real difference and do save money. In the public sector’s increasingly straitened budgetary climate, only a business case with clear return on investment stands much chance of securing funding.

Establishing the potential for telecare and how best to exploit it needs clarity and commitment from central government. There is no time to lose – the clock is ticking...

Article from Computing.co.uk

In Elder Care, Signing on Becomes a Way to Drop By

Connie Araps, 57, of Delray Beach, Fla., thought that her father, Tom Araps, 87, was managing just fine on his own. But when he came to stay with her for a few months in 2005, she found that he was skipping meals, sleeping all morning and not taking daily walks.

To satisfy her father’s desire to live alone, but to ease her mind about his safety, Ms. Araps found an apartment for him less than a mile from her home and had it equipped with QuietCare, a home health alarm system provided by ADT Security Services.

She drops by his apartment often, and logs into a Web site several times a day to check on him. Motion sensors track how often Mr. Araps opens the refrigerator, when he gets out of bed and how long he stays in the bathroom. If his normal patterns vary, the alarm company alerts her.

One day, the company called her to say that no one had entered or left the apartment all day. It turned out that a home health aide had failed to show up, and her father had not received his diabetes medication. Ms. Araps rushed over and made sure that her father took his pills.

“We are so pleased with all the technology,” she said. “I don’t think we would have let him live alone without it.” On the market since August, the QuietCare system costs $199 to install, and monitoring starts at $79.95 a month. In addition to the QuietCare system, Ms. Araps had the alarm company install video cameras showing the floors and the foot of her father’s bed, so she could see if he had fallen.

About 19 million Americans, aside from paid providers, are caring for someone over the age of 75, according to the National Alliance for Caregiving. With the number of older Americans growing rapidly, products and services to help adult children care for their parents are on the rise.

Some products, like QuietCare, use existing alarm technology. Other systems collect health information like blood pressure, weight and medication use and transmit it to adult children or other care providers via the Web. In addition, the emerging profession of geriatric care management is making it possible for family members to delegate various care duties.

Nursing homes have been using health alarm systems like QuietCare for several years, and a few allow family members to view data remotely. “I have a button on my browser that says, ‘Where’s Pop,’ ” said Barry Jacobson, 61, whose 83-year-old father has Alzheimer’s disease and lives at Oatfield Estates, a retirement community in Milwaukie, Ore.

Mr. Jacobson, who lives 300 miles away on San Juan Island off the coast of Washington, can log on at any time to see his father’s whereabouts. Because all residents and staff wear badges that emit a digital signal, he can tell exactly where his father is and who else is in the room.

“My sister in San Diego logged on at midnight one night and saw he was in the kitchen,” he said. “He always was a big ice cream eater.” Elite Care, the company that owns Oatfield Estates, plans to introduce a home version of its technology this year.

Mr. Jacobson knows that a staff of care providers is monitoring his father’s data, ready to respond instantly to problems. The level of responsiveness varies, however, with home-based monitoring systems.

Potential buyers “need to do their due diligence on companies to make sure they have the capacity on the other end to respond to the information,” said Robyn I. Stone, executive director of the Institute for the Future of Aging Services, the research arm of the American Association of Homes and Services for the Aging.

QuietCare uses a 24-hour call center staffed with operators trained to help the elderly in emergencies. Family care providers define emergency situations — a parent staying in the bathroom for more than an hour, for example, or not opening the medicine cabinet all day. They instruct the system when and whom to call, or to send a text or e-mail message.

Another system, SeniorSafe@Home, to be introduced in the fall, will staff its call center with nurses who will monitor data from a combination of motion sensors, electronic medication dispensers and fall detectors.

A system called iCare Health Monitoring uses a very different model. It is not meant to serve as an emergency alarm system. Instead, it tries to prevent emergencies by allowing care providers, family members and older people themselves keep track of specific health data, like blood pressure, weight or medications use. Nurses monitor the system, but not around the clock.

Using a small electronic device with a text screen and four input buttons, the system asks a series of daily multiple-choice questions about an older person’s health. Family members or other care providers can view the answers online and look for any telltale changes in health. Available through http://www.cvs.com/ and some CVS pharmacy stores since July, the system costs $99 to install and $49.95 a month for monitoring.

Alberta Jackson, 78, of Aurora, Colo., who has chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, uses iCare to track her lung function every day. She spends about eight minutes a day answering questions. Once when she responded that she was not feeling well, a nurse called within minutes to check on her.

“It makes me feel like there’s somebody on my shoulder, making sure I’m O.K.,” Mrs. Jackson said.

Of course, not everyone wants someone looking over their shoulder. “There are privacy and ethical issues,” Ms. Stone said. “Where’s the line between motion sensors and Big Brother?”

Excerpt from NY Times article

101 Things To Do With A Mobile Phone In Healthcare

Repost from MedGadget

In the not too distant future, doctors will be replaced by robots and patients will have advanced cell phones capable of screening for cancer, detecting MRSA, and monitoring wound healing. At least that is the opinion of the Wireless Health Care Report on the 101 medical uses of cell phones.

When sites offering medical advice first appeared on the World Wide Web few GPs believed that, within a decade, they would encounter patients who used the Internet to become specialists in a particular ailment. Before the arrival of the 'informed patient' the GP was expected to provide a diagnosis, then recommend a course of treatment. Today many patients believe they already have a diagnosis and merely wish to have it confirmed by a series of tests. The question is no longer 'Doctor what is wrong with me?' but 'Doctor when can my treatment begin?' Mobile and wireless ehealth will enhance and broaden the scope of this type of self diagnosis.

The market for ehealth technology could be approaching a tipping point. In this report we look at a number of ehealth companies that have been formed by surgeons. We feel that companies such as Intelligent Medical Systems and Xenetec, that are run by clinicians with first hand experience of clinical processes, will accelerate the take up of wireless ehealth by giving credibility to ehealth as a technology and providing reference sites within the healthcare sector itself.

Peer pressure will drive the ehealth market, especially if consultants start reaping the benefits of venture capital backing and IPOs. The report states that, in the not too distant future, the ehealth market will enter a new phase where clinicians themselves encourage the automation of clinical processes.

This is happening as a new generation of ehealth products and services, based on wireless and mobile technology, is putting diagnosis and treatment management into the hands of the patient. Companies such as Card Guard and Vitaphone are offering suites of wireless ehealth applications - which include blood pressure, heart rate and blood glucose monitoring - to patients, with or without the support of a conventional healthcare provider.

This report describes 101 examples of the use of wireless and mobile technology in healthcare. While some of the applications are speculative, for example a mobile device to detect MRSA, others, such as SMS based patient reminders, have already been deployed and are earning revenue for vendors.

10.1 Appointment Reminders (SMS)
10.2 Patient Support (SMS)
10.3 Medication Reminders (SMS)
10.4 Appointment Booking
10.5 Medical Data On SIM Card
10.6 Patient Information For Relatives
10.7 Peer Support For Patients
10.8 Post Cardiac Surgery Support
10.9 Accessing Patient Records
10.10 Access To Dietary Information
...

Some are speculative? Cell phones as endoscopes might be considered speculative . . .

Review all 100 uses at Wireless Health Care Report . . .

Couple welcome Big Brother gadgets

A couple in their 80s are among the first in Hull to benefit from a new device which should help hundreds of older and disabled people stay at home.

Stella Prince, 88, who suffers from nocturnal epilepsy, and her husband Henry had their equipment installed yesterday.

On offer is a range of sensors – including one which alerts a central control room when the user has been out of bed too long. Others include movement, heat and door sensors.
Two years ago Mrs Prince suddenly fell ill and began to suffer from falls, and the pair seriously considered moving into a smaller home or sheltered care. The new devices promise to give them both peace of mind.

Mr Prince said: "I'm always afraid of going back to sleep in case my wife has a seizure.
"But with the sensors they are going to install in bed, if she doesn't return to bed within a certain time the alarm goes back to the control room, and they then can call me on a speaker phone to check if she's OK."

Mr Prince is also looking forward to having movement sensors installed so that he can go out safe in the knowledge that if she falls, the control room will find out about it fast.
He said: "With the sensors we can feel much more restful and a lot less stressed.
"Someone said it is Big Brother watching you – and I said it is Big Brother's friend looking after us."

"Our service users are very keen to make use of this new technology – and we are anticipating high demand."

Read the entire article on the Yorkshire Post

Intel and IDA Ireland to invest $30 million in Technology Research for Independent Living Centre in Ireland

Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment Micheál Martin TD today announced that Intel Corporation is to set up a Technology Research for Independent Living (TRIL) Centre in Ireland. The centre, which is supported by IDA Ireland, the Irish State agency for promotion of foreign direct investment, will involve significant research capabilities to address the challenges of ‘independent living’ for older people.

Approximately $30 million will be invested in the TRIL Centre over a period of three years and Intel will collaborate with several leading Irish universities, including UCD, TCD and NUI Galway to create one of the largest research efforts of this type in the world.

Read the entire article on FinFacts Ireland

Nursing by remote control

In Australia, nurses will soon monitor patients at home with video phones and medical sensors, eliminating the need for hundreds of thousands of costly home visits.

Read the entire article on AdelaideNow

Tried of dining alone? Accenture's may have a solution for you

Technology has come up with the answer for people living along who dislike solitary meals: the virtual family dinner, where relatives hundreds of miles apart get together for a chat.

With Accenture’s new technology, lonely diners can transform mealtimes into a family affair using an interactive screen

Accenture, the consulting company, is exploiting the explosion in broadband access to provide lonely people, notably the elderly, with a way to get together with relatives as often as they'd like, updating the traditional family meal.

The concept is simple. An elderly woman in, say, Scotland, prepares a meal and, as she sits down to eat, a screen, which is transparent when not in use, pops up at the end of the table.

A computer program runs through a directory of pre-registered family members and friends to find someone who is "available for dinner" - or, at least, a conversation.

The virtual guest's image is then projected on to the screen and the solitary diner no longer feels that she is eating alone.

"We are trying to really bring back the kind of family interactions we used to take for granted," said Dadong Wan, a senior researcher in Accenture's laboratories in Chicago.

Recent figures showed that more than half of women aged over 75 lived alone, and a survey by Help the Aged disclosed that television was the main source of company for nearly half of all over-65s.

"The whole idea is to make sure they eat right," said Mr Wan. "Recent studies have already shown that people at high risk of under-nourishment consume more than 100 calories extra per meal if they eat with someone else present."

When a prototype becomes available, in no more than a year or two, it is likely to cost up to £500 per household, Mr Wan said. Insurance companies and Government agencies could one day help to pay for the system, much as they do for home helps, once they see its benefits.

From Telegraph.co.uk

European Telecare study shows postive results

“Some elderly patients don’t like the sound of technology, but when explained to them, they realise that it could help them and give them the independence they want. It makes them more active and confident, as they know that help is on hand if they need it, but they don’t need a carer to be with them all the time. It is clearly making a difference to patients.”

“We focused on three random patients who we felt would get the most benefit from the implementation of telecare in their homes. The first was an 80 year old woman, who lives alone and suffers from Parkinson’s diseases. She also has visual impairment and mobility issues and has fallen on several occasions. We put her on a telecare falls programme costing."

“The second was an 87 year old woman who has mobility issues due to an earlier stroke and has memory and hearing problems. She is cared for her by her son. By implementing stroke monitoring technology, we can save on carer time and residential care fees for at least six months bringing a potential saving of £11,387.”

She said another example of benefits measured included an 80 year old man who has reduced mobility and long term memory loss, who had suffered from falls, and relies on his two daughters to remind him to take his medicine."

Exerpts from E-Health Insider