A research study in 2008 found that 80% of older people who fell alone did not use their call alarm to summon help. To overcome this issue, care providers for Sutton Housing Partnership adopted a unique solution to alert them to concerning drops in activity without any user interaction. This DORIS care solution has now saved three lives in Sutton in the last 12 months.
The problem with call alarms
Care alarms, in the form of pendants or other wearables such as pull cords, are a prevalent Tech Enabled Care solution - in the BMJ study, 99% of the participants who fell had some form of call alarm system. Yet within the 80% of residents who did not use their alarm, the reasons included:
- Not wearing the call alarm at the time of the fall
- Wearing the alarm but choosing not to activate it
- The alarm was out of reach after a fall
Not using a call alarm can mean that an older person could be on the floor for many hours, even days. The impact of lying on the floor for a long time after a fall has been associated with repeated falls, fall-induced injuries, and subsequent admissions to hospital and long-term care.
Life-saving experiences in Sutton
Since spring 2021, Sutton Housing Partnership, in collaboration with Sutton Council and the InnOvaTe project, has deployed over 150 DORIS care sensors in independent living properties. In the 12 months since these devices were installed, three lives have been saved by this intelligent sensor.
1. Lilian - found unwell on the sofa, having chosen not to use her pendant alarm
Within five days of the sensor being installed in Lilian's home, Independent Living Officers (ILOs) were alerted to a dramatic decrease in activity. A phone call went unanswered. A family member was contacted, who visited and found their 90+-year-old relative lying on the sofa, unwell and unable to move. Despite having a pendant alarm worn on a lanyard around the neck, Lilian had chosen not to use it.
2. Maureen - fell in her bathroom while her pendant was out of reach
In a second case, within a week of the solution being installed, the ILOs - who were not due to complete another check-in for another six days - received an alert of a drop in activity, prompting an emergency visit. Upon arrival, the resident was found lying on the floor and unable to move, having fallen and broken her hip. She did not have her alarm within reach, so she was unable to call for help.
3. Nina - quickly declined due to illness and was unable to use her pendant alarm
The Sutton Housing Partnership resident had been unwell and receiving additional support when her carer was alerted to a dramatic decline in activity levels. Following no response on the phone or at the door, an urgent welfare check was agreed. Upon entering the property, they found Nina slumped in a chair, confused and unable to communicate coherently or move.
"If we hadn't found her when we did, it would have been six days before the district nursing team would have been scheduled to visit. I hate to think what would have happened if I hadn't got that alert when we did." - Independent Living Officer, Sutton Housing Partnership
"The ambulance driver reported at the scene that if we hadn't had this sensor in the property and they hadn't had the alert when they did, it was highly likely that the resident would have passed away." - London Ambulance Service
Overcoming the lack of use of care alarms
Sutton Council approached IoTSG in the summer of 2020 for a solution to this challenge - they needed easy-to-deploy, remote, unobtrusive behaviour monitoring to provide carers with an early warning of vulnerable residents becoming unwell. Specific requirements included:
- Battery-powered (no need to plug in)
- Long battery life of more than 12 months
- No contact required for installation (to reduce transmission risk)
- No cameras or microphones (to support residents' independence)
- No Wi-Fi or mobile phone signal dependency
The IoT Solutions Group team developed DORIS care to meet these requirements. By automating discreet monitoring, the reliance on personal alarms or on the resident to report an incident is overcome - with life-changing results.
*Residents' names protected on their request.