NHS using smart meters to monitor people with dementia

Mersey Care NHS Foundation Trust and Liverpool John Moores University are using smart meter technology to monitor people with dementia, in a bid to reduce hospital admissions by eradicating falls and accidents.

It is also hoped that the technology could reduce excessive deterioration in some people; lessening their need to go into care homes.

The meters, with the consent of individuals, will monitor daily routines such as cooking dinner or boiling the kettle.

Preliminary research by Dr Paul Fergus and Dr Carl Chalmers has paved the way for a trial to start at the beginning of this year. Fifty patients are to be monitored by the University and Mersey Care NHS Foundation Trust to test the technology further.

Dr Chalmers said: “Smart meters replace traditional meters, where you usually have a guy come round to your house taking your meter reading to give you billing.”

“Smart meters send the energy report usage in real time back to your energy suppliers. What we are hoping to do is exploit that data, to spot behavioural trends in people with dementia; we are looking at how we can apply machine learning techniques for analysing smart meter data.”

This research fits in neatly with the national rollout of smart electricity meters, already underway in much of the UK. The research project hopes to ‘piggyback’ off of this infrastructure.

The monitoring system doesn’t require direct interaction from the patient. Instead, data is captured on habits and routines of individuals through their interactions with everyday electrical devices.

The data collected could then potentially highlight whether certain household appliances are being turned off or left on for too long.

The first phase of the research will be to test the system’s feasibility for use with dementia patients living alone at home, but the technology could potentially work well within a care home environment too.

One of the applications where the data could be really useful is in the area of dementia care known as ‘sundowning.’

Dr Chalmers added: “As you progress with dementia your body clock becomes more switched around, so you start becoming more active in the evening as opposed to the day time. And if you start interacting with appliances in the evening more often, that’s often a good indication to the clinician that you might be progressing with the condition.

“In the complete abstinence of usage, say historically someone always gets up in the morning, puts the kettle on, makes some toast and then on the third morning they don’t do any interaction, that could be an indication that they might have fallen.”