The Digital Social Care Programmes and Scottish Care partner, Nicola Cooper, provides a vital link into Social Work Scotland's digital programme.
Their current focus is on:
Phase 3 of the Care Technologist Programme in Housing
Key Objectives:
- Working with the TEC Housing programme and the Scottish Federation of Housing Associations, they are supporting a trial of the Lilli system in East Ayrshire and D&G, and with Housing partners.
Tech housing proposed to test the spread of the care technologist role into housing. And, to support a 6-month trial of proactive remote monitoring technology (Intelligent Lilli) by applying the skills, experiences and insights learned from the recent Scottish Care pilot
The main aim for this project is to assess whether the Care Technologist role including its associated activities, qualifications, knowledge, experience, and skills translate positively into the housing sector. The idea is to demonstrate the impact of the Care Technologist role in bridging the gap between housing and social care providers/commissioners whilst also bridging the gap between customers and technology.
Using the deployment of Lilli technology as the vehicle to showcase the value and demonstrate the practical skills of a care technologist to the individual and organisation.
Working with our partners to identify where organisational structure can facilitate spread and establish how adoption of the model could be realised.
Additionally, the spread test will look to establish a clear transition from project to standard practice
About Lilli
Lilli empowers vulnerable people to live independently, safely and happily within their home using proactive monitoring technology.
Lilli is a plug and play kit which uses a multi network sim therefore no Wi-Fi is needed, making it accessible to all.
The kit consists of 3 motion sensors, 2 door sensors (best positioned on the front door and fridge door) a smart plug for kettle or microwave and a hub that relays data to a dashboard. These discreet sensors monitor the behaviours and activities of daily life such as movement, eating and drinking, night-time activity and bathroom visits.
Lilli uses machine learning and AI from data collected from sensors around a home to create behavioural understanding and insight that can be used to support and inform a service users needs. The software non intrusively monitors the behaviour of vulnerable people within their homes through the motion sensors. No camera’s or microphones are used.
By detecting a change in the habit surrounding these behaviours, care practitioners can identify when additional support may be needed before problems arise, providing them with information to support any decision they make. These early interventions that Lilli enables helps to support the Service User to live independently, in their own home for as long as possible
About the Care Technologists
Care Technologists use technology to increase independence for people at home.
The Care Technologist role was conceived in A creative future for care at home, a collaboration between Scottish Care and the Innovation School at the Glasgow School of Art, 2017-18, which sought to explore current trends and challenges, transforming them into areas of opportunity. Working with current and future users and providers of services we reimagined the way in which care at home could change in the future and the roles and skills associated with this.
A Test of Change (ToC) in Aberdeen City in 2020-1 enabled us to trial how the role might impact on people drawing on care and support in the community. A second stage ToC in 2022-3 extended the scope and scale of the trial so that we could understand how the conditions for success might vary in across our 3 pathfinder sites – Aberdeen, East Ayrshire and Glasgow, and the potential for the role in Care Home settings.
Service users were able to benefit from technology as part of a rights-based model of relational care and support. The role supported digital inclusion and enabled greater choice and flexibility for service users as a result of their care and support being assessed and delivered differently.
Crucially, the providers we worked with were open to doing things differently and interested in technology. An underlying issue around capacity had limited digital transformation to date, and costs had been a barrier. All expressed the need for support to acquire knowledge of what is available and potential use cases.
Over sixty Care at Home service users were supported across the three organisations. Twenty Care Homes were supported across three localities, extending the reach to around six hundred residents.
One service saw a 40% increase in interest and support for technology from the start of the ToC demonstrating the growing levels of technology acceptance and adoption.
An unintended consequence was the opportunity for technology to support growing mental health needs in the community, as well as reducing loneliness and isolation.
The Care Technologists were hosted by local homecare providers who, as a result of the ToC, have increased their use of technology to enhance how they deliver care and support, and are supporting staff to undertake skills-based training to accelerate digital inclusion and technology use in homecare.
Our vision is that no matter where you are in Scotland you have access to a skilled practitioner who can help you to benefit from technology as part of a rights-based model of relational care and support. In the next 5 years roles like the Care Technologist will be essential to a viable health and social care ecosystem, and in meeting the expectations of citizens.
Explorative work with the National Robotarium
Key Objectives:
To explore the collaborative opportunities with the National Robotarium, trialling Maah and Bricko robots in care homes.
Over the past 24 months, Scottish Care has explored collaborative and human rights-based approaches to the development of robotics and AI, supporting academic research, hackathons, co-design and testing within care settings, with lived experience and care professionals.
The use of robotics in care is largely untested in Scotland and out of reach for most but is accepted and growing in countries like Japan. Social robots such as Pepper and Paro Seal at approximately 36k and 6k respectively are prohibitively expensive to adopt at scale, however simple devices priced around £130, such as the Companion Pet Dogs and Cats are popular and hint at the potential for more 'intelligent' companion robots, using sensors and AI to interact with the user.
The opportunity for robotics to enhance and augment care and support and promote wellbeing, is significant and is the focus of research and development by the National Robotarium, Heriot Watt University Edinburgh.
Two robots of particular interest are Bricko and Maah. Bricko performs as a helper robot, with a flat surface to transport cups and other items to support hydration and nutrition etc. Maah is a new breed of social robot, capable of learning and expressing meaningful emotions, with cognitive architecture and soft robotics that blend with the environment. Maah is almost 100% Scottish in its design and manufacture. The ‘skin’ has been developed in collaboration with Galashiels Textile College and is made through an innovative 3D knitting technique, which means each Maah has the potential to be designed to individual preferences. One application for Maah is for people living with dementia in care homes. The team behind Maah are looking at sustainable manufacturing techniques that could bring the price point down to an affordable amount, and/or subscription model, which could democratise access to robots used in care and enable adoption at scale.
Maah has been awarded Scottish Edge 2023 funding.