• Universitat de València

The increase in life expectancy is increasing the use of social telecare systems that improve the quality of life of the elderly. Currently, there are different telecare devices that are made up of two modules. A module carried by the assisted person and a central station, which can be a fixed telephone installed in the home or a central station controlled exclusively by the company to which a monthly payment is made for the service. All of them have wireless connectivity (RF or GSM) with the central station. Among the main disadvantages of these systems are: the caregiver or person responsible for the assisted person cannot access the system configuration; the refusal of assisted persons who do not wish to talk to people outside their environment; or that some assisted persons cannot remember the functions of the push buttons on the device they carry or the battery level indicator. Thus, there is a need for new simple telecare devices, with better features, that are easy to use for both caregivers and patients, with direct communication between the patient and someone close to him/her and that offer the possibility of control and reconfiguration by the caregiver himself/herself.

Researchers at the Universitat de València have developed a modular home telecare kit for the control, monitoring and communication with partially or totally dependent subjects or patients that includes different types of communication (GSM, RF and Ethernet) and which offers improvements compared to existing devices, as it is not necessary to go to specialised management centres. The family member can reconfigure and install the telecare device without the need for knowledge of electronics or programming; the caregiver can easily know and monitor in real time any incident that occurs in relation to the conditions of the patient's environment (temperature, presence, battery level, falls, etc.); and the patient sees the device as if it were a mobile phone with a single call button. In addition, the developed kit combines different types of communication independent of each other, achieving a very versatile system that is easily adaptable to different situations.

The application of this invention is in social telecare.

The main advantages of the technology are:

• Simplicity, both in its practical use by the patient and in the graphical interface that can be accessed by the primary caregiver and authorised personnel.
• Versatility of the device, as it allows the caregiver to configure and monitor different parameters in real time without having to be present in the same place as the patient.
• It allows caregivers to reconcile their work and social life, in turn increasing the quality of life of dependent people (remaining in their environment and being controlled by a person they trust).

• Patent granted