IoT device count in care predicted to rise to ‘billions’ in a few years

The use of sensors to monitor individuals’ wellbeing is set to take off agreed Roy Grant of York Council, Mark Low of Pinacl Solutions and Karantis 306’s Nick Hampson, in the recent CLGdotTV discussion on care in the home. Thanks to investment by the Council, York is the most connected city in the UK, and is now starting to use this connectivity to enable technologies relevant to residents’ health, social care, housing and other needs. There is a huge range of sensors now available to collect and analyse data about individuals’ activity within their home and what conditions there are like – for example, whether the ambient temperature is high enough for an elderly, perhaps immobile, person. Remote monitoring enables family or paid carers to understand much better the experiences of the people they are looking after during times they are not physically present (perhaps 23.5 hours of each day). This is not just about emergencies like falls: a disturbed night, flagged by unusual data patterns, may give early indication of a problem that if treated quickly, could prevent a hospital admission. As the panel point out, any means of identifying early intervention – whether involving a person’s health, or a property’s dampness - can be key not just to individual and community wellbeing, but also to making best use of available resources.