Choosing care technology that actually helps

There is a great deal of care technology available, and much of it adds work. Before adopting anything — including ours — a handful of questions will tell you most of what you need to know.

Who does the daily work?

If the answer is “the person being supported, every day, on a screen”, adoption will be poor. The best tools ask for one small action and take care of the rest.

What happens when it is ignored?

A tool that produces an alert every time something routine happens trains everyone to ignore alerts. Ask what the product does when nothing is wrong — the answer should be “very little”.

Who controls the sharing?

• Can the supported user see exactly what each person can access?
• Can they change it themselves, without asking anyone?
• Is consent asked for once, or genuinely revisited?
• What happens to the data if the subscription ends?

Does it work on the phone they already own?

Anything that requires new hardware raises the cost and the chance it ends up in a drawer. Software that runs well on a four-year-old phone will be used considerably more often than a device that needs charging separately.

What does it promise that it cannot deliver?

Be wary of anything that claims to prevent falls, guarantee adherence or detect every scam. Careful products are specific about their limits, and say so on the page rather than in the small print.