United KingdomUnited KingdomJohn is a 90-year-old man that lives alone in a one bedroomed flat. He has two grandchildren that live close by that support him to help him live independently. John’s mobility was starting to decline and after multiple falls, he was admitted to hospital. Although John has a pendant alarm, he has never used it appropriately, even after a fall.
He spent three weeks on the ward recovering from a small fracture in his hip before being discharged home. John was referred to the reablement team after his mobility didn’t improve and he was experiencing increased confusion. When the social worker visited, he was receiving a reablement package of care four times a day to support him. This was reduced to twice per day before being removed completely.
On assessment, the social worker noticed that he was having difficulties switching his heating on and the property was cold. His family had to visit the home to turn the heating on for him.
John’s family would also need to call him daily to prompt John to take his medication. Although this reminded him, he didn’t consistently take it. He had started to decline and stop taking care of himself, not eating, or drinking and requiring a lot of support and encouragement to do this. The care package was increased back to two visits per day. The carers were unable to administer medication, so the family were still needed to call and prompt this.
At the beginning of November, Beanbag Care was installed in the home to monitor John’s environment, sleep, and to detect any falls. This system also enabled the family to conduct video calls to prompt taking medication and witness John taking it to ensure compliance. Both John and his family were keen for the system to be installed and recognised the benefits it would provide.
Unfortunately, just two weeks after installation, John fell in the lounge when getting up from the sofa to walk to the kitchen. The Beanbag system detected the fall and alerted the responders who were unavailable to pick up the alert.
The call escalated to Beanbags inhouse contact centre who were able to get in touch with John’s granddaughter who sent her husband to check on him. John was wearing his pendant alarm but hadn’t pushed it for help.
Upon arrival, it was clear that John had fallen and was unable to get back up. An ambulance was called, and the responder arrived to support him whilst waiting for help. The Beanbag system continued to monitor and alert to show that John was still on the floor, the responders were able to mute these easily with a touch of a button.
John was taken into hospital with a head injury and discharged home just 24 hours later. The Beanbag system was ready and activated upon arrival home to support him and to help him to feel safe.
Beanbag Care not only detected a fall and enabled help to arrive, but the installation has also reduced the amount of care needed to support him. If technology was not being used, an increased care package would have been needed to support medication administration and ensure wellbeing. This has saved £210 per week in care costs and enabled John to stay at home independently.
His granddaughter was grateful that the system detected the fall, especially as he would have been on the floor for seven hours or more waiting for the carer if help wasn’t alerted.
Please note all names used in this case study have been changed to protect the identity of the service user.