Smart beds and motion sensors - is this the future of dementia care? — SkimNews
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- UK Dementia Research Institute is running a trial with Imperial College London, funded by LifeArc, fitting more than 250 families' homes with door sensors, motion detectors, kitchen-appliance monitors and "smart mattresses" that track heart and breathing rates.
- Jyoti Patel, diagnosed with Alzheimer's in 2021 after husband Bharat noticed uncharacteristic mistakes during their stage-magic act, is also testing smart socks and a watch that monitor body temperature and long-term gait changes.
- Sensor data flows to a dedicated clinical team that uses it to flag early signs of infection, falls or routine breakdown before they become crises, according to UK DRI health and social care lead Sarah Daniels.
- Costs are expected at about £2,000 per patient per year, which Daniels argues is no more than a couple of weeks in a care home; none of the devices record sound or video.
- NHS England national clinical director for dementia Jeremy Isaacs said the health service will closely monitor the trial, with nearly 1 million people in the UK living with dementia and that number projected to climb 40% by 2040.
- Bharat Patel said the sensors give him peace of mind: "Even if it can cut down my worries by 5 or 10%, then it helps me and it will help other people too."
Why it matters: With nearly 1 million people in the UK living with dementia and that count projected to climb 40% by 2040, the trial's roughly £2,000-per-patient annual cost tests whether passive home monitoring can catch health declines early enough to avert the far costlier step of hospital or care-home admission.
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