Technology enabled care

Introduction
Wheelchairs and walking aids
Technology enabled care
Alarms and monitors
Adapting your home and handyperson schemes
Community Equipment Service
Things to consider before you buy equipment and smart tech

Technology Enabled Care (TEC) uses simple technology to support you, often in your own home or as part of your daily routine. It can include things like apps, sensors, falls pendants and smart devices.

Technology can help make everyday life easier, increase your independence or mean that you can keep living at home for longer. It gives peace of mind to your family, carers or friends too knowing that you’re safe and well. If you've had a visit to hospital, TEC can also help you get home sooner.

Assistive technology helps with daily living. It includes things like:

voice-controlled devices that help you do things like making phone calls
help to remember to take medicine
door sensors
smart lights
smart thermostats
talking cookers and microwaves
devices that clean your home

Telecare is devices and sensors that make sure you are safe at home. This includes:

personal alarms and pendants
fall and motion sensors
smoke alarms
epilepsy (seizure monitoring) detectors
bed and chair sensors
carbon monoxide detectors

TEC can also help you while you are in the community. This includes:

GPS locating devices
smart watches with SOS features

You can find all these products and where to buy them on our home equipment finder.

The video below has been produced by the Technology Services Association (TSA), the industry body for TEC. It shows how everyday technology can support you to stay safe, well and independent for longer.

How everyday technology can support you

How can TEC help?

TEC helps you manage daily life. It helps you carry on doing things for yourself. TEC can help anyone to stay independent. Some of the benefits of TEC include:

better connections with loved ones, friends and your community
support to live safely and independently in your home with smart controls and voice activation
ability to monitor your care and support needs
making sure you remember to take your medicines
early intervention if you have a decline in your physical health
support with any anxiety and mental health difficulties
reducing feelings of isolation
enhancing safety in your home, for instance via video doorbells
setting reminders to ensure your nutritional needs are met

TEC is not just gadgets. It can also be paired with simple support like:

monitoring through an alarm receiving centre
check-in calls
help after a fall
help around the house
help to keep in touch with people

How TEC can support family and carers

If you care for someone but can't always be there, TEC can help give you peace of mind. Many of the assistive technology and telecare items listed above can support you in your role as a carer.

Mary and John have shared a life, a home and decades of memories. Now both are living with dementia, in a quiet rural house where everything feels familiar and safe. Their children live in another country so there is no family nearby to help day-to-day. But Mary and John’s wish is clear: to stay at home, together, for as long as possible.

With the right care in place, and the addition of TEC, that wish is being supported.

Care visits give help with meals, personal care, medication and keeping the home clean and safe. But for families living far away, it’s often the time between visits that causes the most worry.

This is where technology has made a real difference.

Motion sensors quietly build a picture of daily life showing that they’re moving around the house, using the kitchen, settling safely at night and staying within the home. If activity drops or something looks out of the ordinary, it can be noticed early, giving peace of mind rather than panic.

Their family can also see when care visits are happening or have happened, offering reassurance that support is in place even from miles away. Heating can be adjusted remotely if the house becomes too cold, helping keep their parents comfortable without constant phone calls or guesswork.

For the family, this has been life changing.

Instead of feeling anxious and helpless, they feel connected and involved. Instead of multiple daily calls to “check everything is okay,” they now call just to chat about everyday things, memories, and how the day has been. Stress levels have reduced, sleep has improved and the emotional burden of caring from a distance has eased.

Technology hasn’t replaced care or family involvement, it has strengthened both.

The next videos give examples of how TEC can support people with dementia and their families and carers.

How TEC helps people with dementia

Motion sensors can detect movement and can trigger alerts if something changes. If you live nearby and can get to the person quickly, look for motion sensors that give you a dashboard.

If you live further away, an experienced team of people can provide local monitoring support and might be able to send someone out if needed.

You can:

find motion sensors
contact Mole Valley Life to find out more about installing a motion sensor in your home

How TEC has helped our Surrey residents

Watch our series of videos to see how TEC can help you.

Support for family members

How Brain in Hand helped Chelsea

Where to find out more about technology that can help you stay independent

There are lots of different types of TEC that can help you to stay independent, safe and well.

You can use our home equipment finder to find products that might help. You can search by room, need and product type. It includes recommendations on where to buy technology.

Telecare

Telecare includes devices like alarms, detectors and sensors. Speak to your local council to find out what’s available in your area. You may be charged for this service.