Source: Department of Health and Social Care published on this website Thursday 21 March 2024 by Jill Powell
4D imaging technology which can prevent falls and automatically alert carers to a medical issue could soon be rolled out in more care homes across England. Whzan Guardian, a UK-developed technology, is a monitoring system that uses 4D mapping technology to track people’s movement around the house and detect falls through sensors placed around the home.
Pilots in several care homes across England resulted in a 66% reduction in falls and around a 97.5% reduction in ambulances called or required post fall, reducing pressure on the NHS and protecting vulnerable residents. The technology will now be rolled out in Redbridge Integrated Care System (ICS) for further testing after North East London Integrated Care Board (ICB) received a £1 million funding boost from the government as part of the Adult Social Care Technology Fund.
If successful, it could be rolled out to more care homes nationally.
The Adult Social Care Technology Fund was launched in April 2023 as part of the Digitising Social Care programme. The fund seeks to identify promising technology that has the potential for wider roll-out within the care sector. The programme, which is jointly delivered by the Department of Health and Social Care and NHS England, invited ICSs, care providers, local authorities and technology suppliers to submit expressions of interest to apply for funding to roll out technology.
The Digitising Social Care programme has also been supporting the scaling of Digital Social Care Records (DSCR) across England and has recently confirmed that funding and support will continue into 2024 to 2025. Areas that are on track to meet targets for DSCR adoption will be encouraged to scale other proven technologies. A toolkit to support the implementation of falls prevention and detection technologies will be published later this year.
The Whzan Guardian activity monitoring system was developed with City of Sunderland to extend care to vulnerable people in their own homes showing signs of frailty and often early-stage dementia.
The Whzan Guardian is a collection of discreet wireless sensors that are placed on the wall - monitoring behaviour and environment according to need. The system comprises a selection of low-cost sensors connected to wifi.
Evidence of effectiveness is contained within studies and evaluations from UCL Partners, North Central London ICB, Leicester and Rutland NHS, Mid and South Essex ICB, City of Sunderland Council.
The Vayyar technology that would be deployed alongside the Guardian Kit from Whzan has been installed across 2 ICB areas in and has been reviewed over 8-month pilots.
The system saved the local authorities and NHS in each area £29,945 and £272,850 respectively.
