AssistAble: Sustainable Smart Home for Healthy Independent Ageing

COVID-19 has led to wide-scale disruption in the NHS, worsening delays in routine care, increasing costs and reversing efforts to improve sustainability. The elderly have been disproportionately affected, with increased social isolation and reduced mobility, leading to reductions in mental and physical function that may never be recovered, with barriers to healthcare access increasing for vulnerable and minority groups. Digital transformation is urgently needed to meet COVID-19 related challenges, whilst maintaining current care standards in the face of a rapidly ageing population. Independent living improves life satisfaction and happiness whilst reducing pressures on the NHS and social care, and is a UK Government priority targeting 5 extra years of independent living by 2035\. Sustainability and carbon reduction in healthcare is a key part of the Government's Clean Growth Strategy; with the NHS being the largest contributor of public sector carbon emissions, significant reductions can be achieved by improving/increasing uptake of remote healthcare.

Frailty is the key condition leading to loss of independence, affecting 10% of people aged over 65 years and 50% of those over 85 years old, with increased prevalence in ethnic minority groups. Frailty can be accurately assessed by measuring walking speed and the time it takes to stand up from sitting, but these are not typically measured in a busy clinic and diagnosis is often based on subjective clinical opinion. Reduced walking speed directly relates to increased risk of falls, hospital admission, nursing home residence and early death. Appropriate early interventions can reduce and reverse frailty and increase disability-free life years.

AssistAble exploits recent advances in machine-learning/AI enabling accurate assessment of body movement using a simple webcam, giving information and trend analysis of walking speed, instability, and the time it takes to stand up from sitting. This information will be used to accurately grade frailty and improve clinical care by sharing outputs with doctors, nurses, social care professionals and relatives, who can act to halt or reduce frailty, have early warning of acute illnesses, improve care planning, and reduce the frequency of falls.

The vision is to lead smart telecare for seniors, promoting healthy independent living and equitable healthcare access, whilst decreasing NHS carbon footprint from GP/hospital transport and clinical building occupancy by enabling remote elderly care and reducing avoidable hospital admissions.