Maureen’s life saved — DORIS care® raises red alert following a fall

At the start of the Covid-19 pandemic, local authorities faced the significant challenge of keeping their vulnerable residents safe. A solution that alerted local authorities to the declining health of vulnerable residents in their homes was urgently needed.

DORIS care® — a standalone cellular device from IoT Solutions Group — was deployed by Sutton Council and Sutton Housing Partnership to monitor vulnerable residents in their own homes. The device requires no Wi-Fi, no pendant, and no resident interaction. It spends the first 48 hours learning the resident’s typical daily behaviour patterns: how many times they boil a kettle, do the dishes, or open a window. That baseline is then used to detect meaningful changes that could indicate a fall, illness, or decline.

Delivering results

The residents responded really positively to the trial. Sutton resident Maureen experienced the greatest benefit — the simple device in her kitchen saved her life. Maureen fell in her bathroom, crashing into the bath. Unable to reach her pendant alarm, and without a smartphone, she was unable to call for help.

DORIS care® detected the sudden, prolonged deviation from Maureen’s normal daily pattern and raised a red alert to the care team. Emergency services were called, and paramedics reached Maureen in time.

“When we spoke to London Ambulance service about the incident, 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.”

— Bradley Coupar, Smart Place Project Manager & Social Worker, Sutton Council

This life-saving story has been shared across news and TV channels to demonstrate the power of ‘tech for good’ in challenging times.

How DORIS care® works

DORIS care® is a standalone cellular device — no Wi-Fi, no hub, no pendant required. It transmits activity signals every four hours during normal operation. When activity patterns deviate significantly from the learned baseline, it triggers an alert to the nominated care team or emergency contact.

• No Wi-Fi or internet connection required — uses cellular (NB-IoT/LTE-M)
• No resident interaction required — completely passive monitoring
• 48-hour learning period establishes individual behavioural baseline
• Alerts on significant deviation, not on every movement
• Can also identify potential fuel poverty and extreme temperature risks in the home
• Privacy-first: no cameras, no microphones, no personal data stored on the device

Coverage

Maureen’s story was covered widely as an example of technology for good in action, appearing in Business Mondays, Computer Weekly, Dorset Biz News, IoT-Now, London Post, and UK News Group.