Personalised urban living solution

In addressing the increasing needs for appropriate social care, the UK faces a number of challenges ranging from a lack of state funding to a poorly paid workforce. However, maintaining independence within individuals own homes and community is often considered to be important for elderly wellbeing. Exploiting the integration of technology to assist with this aim, whilst complementing other face to face social care measures, will therefore be key to addressing some of these challenges. Wearable devices and mobile technology offer technology with potential to facilitate targeted and timely assistance for those living independently, thus preventing the development of more serious healthcare incidents. This project analyses the perceptions of older generations in terms of the value and use of wearable technology which records key medical indicators (e.g. temperature, heart rate).

This research project was funded by Innovate UK.

Research Team: Anupam Nanda, Rachel McCloy, Kecheng Liu, Weizi Li and Ruth Pugh