Here we bring you the third in our four-part series on Innovation in Care. At KareInn, we believe great innovation is something which makes life fundamentally better for its users. In this third part of our series, we are focussing on high-tech innovations which harness the latest technology to do just that. You can still read part 1 here and part 2 here.

ImmersiCare

Virtual Reality or ‘VR’ has been top of the ‘digital trends of the future’ charts for about as long as we’ve been reading those charts, so we’re really excited it’s now starting to become more mainstream.  ImmersiCare uses VR as a therapeutic engagement activity for residents living with dementia.

QUOTE – “The effect of ImmersiCare is unique to each individual resident, but has an overwhelmingly positive effect on the majority of residents’ wellbeing and has helped carers and residents connect to each other in the sharing of experiences and memories.”

Like all the greatest high tech innovations, ImmersiCare is easy to use, bringing the latest technology to even the least technically minded user. It also comes with a tried and tested method for introducing it to people living with dementia in a gentle and calming way.

ImmersiCare recently won ‘Best Use of VR in Healthcare’ at the VR Awards 2017 and is another one to watch out for in the near future in residential care homes.

Ally Smart Care

Ally is a smart home device which can be placed in the homes of elderly people so family members or carers can monitor them remotely. It learns the user’s daily routines and sends alerts to family or to carers when things look out of the ordinary so that they can act before the situation escalates.

The truly innovative part of Ally is that it loved ones to stay in touch through simple voice messaging through the smart device and the connected Ally app. Voice technology is fast becoming a part of everyday life for digital natives, from Google Assitant and Siri through to Amazon Echo, so we’re excited by the possibilities that come from harnessing this technology for elderly care at home and in the context of nursing care homes.

And on the theme of voice technology, we also love Hampshire County Council’s ongoing pilot, which aims to help support people living independently in their own homes for longer and reduce isolation, through the use of Amazon Echo’s voice technology.

 What might it mean for your homes? 

We know it can quickly become a challenge deploying so many types of technology in a care home environment if they each come with separate hardware and software which don’t talk to one another. That’s why whatever technology you deploy in your care home should always be built for integration, like our digital care planning software.

Likewise, the amount of innovation coming to the care home industry might seem overwhelming and it is not easy to select the right provider to suit your needs. Read our guide to going digital here for tips on how to navigate that process. The most important thing to remember is, regardless of what the innovation does or how shiny the technology is: ‘does this make it fundamentally better?’

Finally, as always, if you would like to know more about what we are doing, evaluate our product, or pick our brains on industry best practice, please do get in touch. We would love to hear from you.