What does it really take to stay independent at home?

Some of you may be familiar with this conversation:

“Darling, I’ve locked myself out of the internet. Can you come and help?”

Or maybe:

“Be an angel and pop round and wake Alexa up. She seems to be on strike.”

These are the calls that come from a generation who grew up writing letters and using Ceefax for information, rather than navigating the complexities and vagaries of the internet.

You step in to help, reset forgotten passwords, search multiple inboxes across different devices and realise that you can barely manage it yourself. What must it be like for an ageing parent with failing eyesight and shaky hands?

For many older people, staying independent at home increasingly involves navigating systems that were not designed with them in mind.

This is especially relevant now, as social care is moving firmly back onto the political agenda, and technology needs to be part of the conversation.

Prime Minister Andy Burnham has warned that the NHS could “collapse” unless social care is reformed. As a carer for his father, who has Alzheimer’s, he has experienced first-hand how the system can fail families.

He has promised to bring forward the timetable for the Casey Commission, which is reviewing the social-care system, and begin work towards a National Care Service more closely connected to the NHS.

Among the principles he has set out is a familiar and important one: care should be preventative, centred around the individual and provided at home wherever possible.

It is difficult to disagree with that.

Most of us would prefer to remain in our own homes for as long as possible. Home means familiarity, neighbours we recognise, our own bed and knowing where the biscuits are at all times.

But staying at home does not automatically mean remaining independent.

When independence becomes digital

With so much of daily life now taking place on screens, from the family WhatsApp group to prescriptions and appointments, independence is increasingly linked to technology.

That is not a problem for everyone. But for the 4.3 million people aged 65 and over in the UK who do not use a smartphone, the technology, and the support it can provide, may simply be out of reach.

A smartphone can be far more than a way to make calls. It can hold reminders, appointments, directions, photographs and familiar faces in one place. It can help someone contact family, join a video call or check a message without waiting for somebody else to do it for them.

But only if the phone is simple enough to use.

When screens are cluttered, text is too small or important functions are buried beneath dozens of apps, the technology intended to support independence can end up creating another reason to ask for help.

Beyond smartphones, technology can help older people at home in many other ways.

Smart medication dispensers can release the correct dose at the right time and alert a relative or carer if it is missed. Home sensors and fall-detection devices can notice unusual inactivity, changes in routine or a fall.

In Medway, small sensors are already helping people remain safely at home. The system learns someone’s usual routines, such as sleeping, eating and moving around, and alerts carers when something changes.

For one family, it has helped a father living with dementia remain in his own flat while giving his son reassurance that he is safe. Medway Council said the scheme supported hundreds of people and saved around £1.6 million in its first year.

This kind of technology does not need to be expensive or complicated, but it can make a real difference to the lives of people living independently, and to those caring for them.

Carers need care too

Because the people providing that support could do with some help too, whether they are among the UK’s 5.8 million unpaid family carers or the two million official carers who are, frankly, not paid enough.

Family carers are often juggling work, children and other dependants. They are sometimes described as the sandwich generation because they are caring for the generations on either side of them.

It is a tough position to be in.

Research from University College London found that people providing more than 20 hours of care a week experienced a deterioration in both physical and mental health, with effects that could persist for several years.

Andy Burnham has also highlighted how undervalued social-care workers are, making multiple home visits across a region for wages that barely cover the cost of living.

The latest government workforce survey found that, among paid adult social-care workers considering leaving their role, 60% said stress and burnout were affecting their health and wellbeing. Low pay was the next most common reason, cited by 54%.

All of these people need support.

Technology cant make tea

Technology will never replace the warmth of a human visit, the ability to notice that someone does not seem quite themselves or, importantly, the making of a cup of tea.

But it can remove some of the smaller obstacles that make caring harder than it needs to be.

A phone that someone can use independently may mean one fewer call asking for help finding a contact. A clear message may prevent a missed appointment. A video call might help a family member see that everything is fine, or notice that something is off.

Communication and connection is an important part of care. If more of it happens through technology, that technology must be simple enough for the people who rely on it to use.

Social care reform will require difficult decisions about funding, staffing and responsibility. But if the aim is to help more people remain independent at home, we should also pay attention to the everyday tools through which that independence is now managed.

The most useful technology in care is often not the technology doing something extraordinary. It is the technology making an ordinary task possible without frustration, confusion or assistance.