A PIONEERING development of “Fit Homes” in Ross and Cromarty is using data capture and health analytics to help prevent episodes or events which could lead to ill-health or death among residents.

The 16 homes at Dalmore, Alness, have been built by modular housing company Carbon Dynamic, in a joint initiative with Albyn Housing Society – both based in Invergordon – and NHS Highland, and all have been fitted with the latest sensors and Internet of Things (IoT) technology.

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The Data Lab is funding research into predicting falls, which is being carried out at Robert Gordon University (RGU) in Aberdeen.

A 72-year-old resident died in one of Albyn’s homes ten years ago, but it was more than a year before his body was discovered.

Lucy Fraser, head of innovation at Albyn Housing Society, said that prompted the landlord to find something they could do to make their tenants feel safer.

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“We started fiddling with the design of the house, but also speaking to our tenants to find out what they wanted and what they didn’t want,” she said.

“We have been working with RGU and Stirling University, and now we’re gathering data and streaming it to RGU to try to forecast events before they happen.

“The first stage is they’re looking at falls because a high percentage of people who come out of hospital can fall – there’s something called a life curve which will plot where you are in relation to your likelihood to fall.

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“It’s about how fast you walk, if you hold on to furniture – different aspects put you on the life curve, so we can predict who’s likely to have a fall before they have one, and because the system is hooked up to the NHS you can actually delay the fall happening.

“Doctors can have people do exercises and effectively delay the fall for up to a couple of years – you can put it back but never eliminate it.”

Sheltered accommodation, or other accommodation for mainly elderly residents, usually has alarm cords which have to be physically triggered, working with a necklace or bracelet alarm system worn by the individual. This new system runs in parallel with these methods.

“What we hope is the sensors in the house will detect if someone has fallen and that takes away the need for them to press the button,” said Fraser.

“They specify who is alerted – a call centre or family member or friend.

“The houses themselves are all ‘sensored up’ – but the technology is also retrofittable so can be installed in older houses too.”

The idea is that through use, the sensors will adapt to what is normal in terms of movement and energy usage, and the technology is still being tested,

“We’re running tests on the systems at the moment. The reading of the sensors is very technical so we’re going to change it so anyone can read it,” said Fraser.

“You can log in anywhere and see the temperature in the house, who’s moving about the house; if they’re in bed how long they’ve been there, how long they’ve been sitting.

“It is working out what’s normal and changes from the norm.”