Adoption and Spread of Home Sensors for Technology-Enabled Remote Monitoring in Social Care

The shift to preventative telecare models involving technologies for proactive remote monitoring has gained considerable momentum since the Covid-19 pandemic. This scoping review of academic and grey literature was part of a rapid evaluation of technology-enabled remote monitoring of Adult Social Care service users by professional and/or informal carers in England. This evaluation focused on novel models of telecare delivery to support proactive and preventative social care, through 'connected care' platforms in which data from a range of sensors around the home are aggregated and analysed for changes in service users' day-to-day living patterns. These home sensors for remote monitoring are being used by some local authorities in England with the aim of improving the wellbeing of social care service users through the prevention of adverse events such as falls, illness, and malnutrition.

Through review of sources available as of July 2024, we found that the evidence base on implementation and evaluation of home sensors for proactive care is extremely limited. Initiatives to implement proactive remote monitoring within specific local government settings were identified, but there were few examples of robust evidence from independent evaluations. The reported case studies in the literature were for initial implementation stages, and most evidence of evaluation was smaller-scale and qualitative; quantitative data for capturing system-level outcomes was notably absent. We found no examples where proactive remote monitoring had already been scaled up to the level of a standard service offer within local government organisations.