Older people “can live independently at home for longer” by taking advantage of emerging technologies, according to an Irish MEP.

Fine Gael’s Colm Markey is calling for the Government to invest in wearable monitors such as watches that can identify health problems before they happen.

The current Senior Alert Scheme, which focuses on alarmed pennants, received a €2.7m allocation in Budget 2024.

On Breakfast Briefing today, Mr Markey said this scheme is using technologies that have existed since the 90s.

“At this stage, there are all sorts of things around health monitoring we can do now,” he said.

“There are technologies that can monitor blood pressure, levels of movement, and things like that.

“Apart from raising an emergency, it could also raise problems in advance of them happening.

“Technologies of this nature are out there now and there is the potential to use them to help people.”

Advancements

The Midlands–North-West MEP said technology has “moved on enormously” since the days alarmed pennants were first rolled out.

“For a couple of hundred euros now, they can provide a vast range of technology,” he said.

“This is done primarily through a tablet and wearable technology that is the equivalent of a watch that people can wear.

“The technology that is there is so much more advanced than it was and the price point is now quite as high as people would have expected.”

An example of the pendant alarms used in Ireland. Belga News Agency / Alamy Stock Photo

The HSE might also be grateful for this new technology, according to Mr Markey.

“The potential to identify a problem before it happens is one element of it,” he said.

“It could also lead to lessening the burden on the health service and could be a savings for the health service.

“Other things that are so important are giving that person independence and giving the family peace of mind that something hasn’t happened to their loved ones.”

Mr Markey said other European countries are leading the way on this.

“It has a big footprint in Finland and they have used some of these technologies quite effectively,” he said.

“Finland is a country that has a remote population. It’s a challenging environment and they’ve had to address that challenge.

“We can learn from countries like Finland in how they’ve implemented these technologies to good effect.”

Journey

Mr Markey said it’s “important to bring people on a journey too”.

“The idea of being monitored might be of concern to some people,” he said.

“If you can say to them, you can live independently in your home for longer with this technology.

“It’s about bringing people on that journey and helping them to embrace that technology rather than be scared of it.

“As much as it's about technology, it’s about the journey of bringing people to the mindset of saying ‘This is for my benefit, rather than people just watching me.’”

Main image: An older woman living at home. Credit: Dave Bagnall Collection / Alamy