Assistive care technology company Communicare247 is on track to deliver a first-of-its-kind digital home care system in Glasgow.
It has won funding worth more than £130,000 to support the next phase of Project Liberty, a new system which will enable the UK’s most vulnerable people to live independently in their own homes for longer.
The telecare system incorporates consumer devices such as voice-activated speakers, smart phones and other wearable devices, sensors and location technologies, through a novel monitoring system that can integrate with existing home care alarms.
The project will connect with Scotland’s long range wide area network (LoRaWAN), which enables devices to collect and send data without the need for 3G, 4G or Wi-Fi.
The IoT Scotland wireless sensor network is designed to support full use of Internet of Things (IoT) devices, including sensor applications deployed in Communicare247’s Liberty home care system.
The project is expected to be complete in the third quarter of 2021 and will provide a scalable telecare system that could be deployed by local authorities, housing associations and care providers across the UK.
Support comes from the £9.2m Can Do Innovation Challenge Fund, which recently announced funding for several public sector-led innovation schemes in Scotland.
Project Liberty is part of Glasgow City Council’s technology-enabled challenge, uniting project leader with partners and stakeholders including the Glasgow Health and Social Care Partnership (HSCP), the Health and Social Care Alliance Scotland and Tunstall.
The funding will support the second phase of development, which will deploy and test the system with people living independently with a variety of complex care needs, including Alzheimer’s.
Tom Morton, chief executive of Communicare247, said: “We are integrating common and easy to use consumer products along with IoT sensors and innovative telehealth monitoring in an existing data-led system that reports to carers, family members and emergency services as required.
“Currently, across the UK, there is an estimated four million elderly and shielding people who rely on analogue telecare systems to help keep them safe, but most of these systems are at risk of becoming obsolete due to the telephone network switch from analogue to digital.
“This gives the UK an unprecedented opportunity to adopt a leading digital-enabled assisted living care which will be delivered through Project Liberty.”
Michael Gillespie, principal officer at Glasgow HSCP, added that the supply of telecare is a relatively narrow marketplace characterised by relatively one-dimensional options.
“Communicare247’s forward thinking approach provides the potential for using a wider range of peripherals within a stable and effective platform which we hope will facilitate delivery of more user-friendly technology-enabled care services.”