Agincare Enable: Our commitment to assistive technology solutions
Agincare Enable is embracing health and social care innovation; using assistive technology solutions to improve its services.
Enable supports people who may have a learning disability, autistic spectrum condition, or physical disability, particularly where this presents in a complex way. The integrated pathway of services includes respite and day support, community outreach and supported living.
By adopting assistive technology and working in partnership with tech providers to trial pioneering solutions, Enable is transforming the way it delivers support.
What is assistive technology?
Assistive technology is an umbrella term used to describe products or systems that support individuals to perform functions that might otherwise be difficult.
Whilst, in the context of health and social care, assistive technology is used to describe innovations that support those who require assistance to maximise their independence, many of us use such devices in our everyday lives.
Home assistants such as Alexa and Google Home are both versions of off-the-shelf assistive technology. They are capable of supporting individuals to perform functions and facilitate a greater degree of autonomy.
How is Enable using assistive technology?
Alexa home assistants are widely used in Enable’s supported living services. The addition of Echo Show screens enable residents to engage with support whenever they may need it.
This technology can be less intrusive than more traditional forms of support. Rather than being assisted 24-hours a day by a support worker, those in supported living are able to communicate their needs and control the environment around them.
Leanne Stockwell, Locality Manager, explains:
Assistive technology gives someone the ability to communicate their needs, and for the staff to better understand them. This causes a reduction in distressed behaviours and it gives them independence. They don’t need to have someone sitting outside their door. Instead, they can just let us know if and when they need anything.
Specialist assistive technology
Specialist assistive technologies such as Proloquo2go are essential tools that enhance the ability of Enable support workers to engage with, and better understand, the needs of those they support.
Through technological solutions, Enable is improving the way it implements augmentative and alternative communication practices and embracing assistive technology as the future of supported living services.
Mark Bethell, Director of Agincare Enable, adds:
Agincare Enable is committed to engaging with assistive technology now to ensure its foundations as an intrinsic part of supported living environments and practices in the future.
New partnerships with assistive technology providers
To secure the place of assistive technology in the future of its services, Enable is working in partnership with new and emerging organisations and providers.
Agincare Enable is working with healthcare technology provider Lilli to pilot the use of machine learning as a means of better understanding the needs of those in supported living.
By analysing data sources, Lilli creates algorithms specific to the individual that learn to predict when they most need support.
A change in routine behaviour for example, might indicate a deterioration in health or wellbeing and therefore, a support team can be alerted.
Leanne said:
“Lilli could have a huge impact on how we deliver our services. It collates data in a way that can help us to determine what type of care an individual needs, and when they need it.”
This proactive technology has the potential to enable people to live more independently and reduces the need for 24-hour support.
In piloting this project, Enable is adopting innovative solutions to improve best practices in supported living and help individuals live more independent, better lives.
Mark Bethell adds,
“Innovation is at the core of our service provision. By being innovative in the partnerships we form with assistive technology providers, we can be pioneering in our use of technology as an integrated aid within supported living.”
Over the next few months, Enable will be working with specific individuals in their supported living services to pilot the Lilli technology.
