Plymouth ‘living lab’ project pilots home-based tech for older adults

University Hospitals Plymouth NHS Trust (UHP) is supporting Plymouth Community Homes (PCH) on a living lab project which will explore the impact of digital health technology in older residents’ homes.

The project aims to establish a ‘Plymouth Living Lab’, with the goal of addressing frailty management in the home environment.

It will focus on older individuals with frailty, and PCH residents will be provided opportunities to help co-design technology, such as sensors in the home and wearable devices.

By piloting technologies designed to help residents remain independent in their own homes, the research aims to demonstrate whether and how these technologies can both improve the health and well-being of older people with mild to moderate frailty.

Rachael Fox, partnership project manager, said: “I am proud that PCH is leading the way in bringing housing and health services together.

“The ‘Plymouth Living Lab’ gives our residents an exciting opportunity to support our local health services, transforming the way they deliver care in the community, and shaping how the system can support people to remain independent in their homes”.

The project is funded by global IT firm Cisco, through its ‘Country digital acceleration’ initiative.

The investment secured from Cisco will support a PCH based user engagement researcher, who will work with residents, staff, medical professionals, social care staff, and other voluntary organisations to support the co-design, piloting and evaluation of the home based technologies.

The project is supported by PCH’s ‘Health and Housing’ partnership with Livewell Southwest.

Jonathan Cowie, chief executive at PCH, said: “We are very proud to be pioneering Plymouth’s Living Lab project through our partnership with Livewell Southwest, and it’s exciting news this will be one of the largest ‘living labs’ in the world.

“Working with world class organisations including the Centre for Health Technology and CISCO will allow us to form new global partnerships as well as creating positive outcomes for our residents, who will not only play a key part in this exciting research but be able to benefit from brand new technology to help them in their daily lives.

“Projects like this demonstrate the real, tangible impact partnership working can bring about, for local people as well for innovative technology companies, and I’m delighted PCH is leading the way in demonstrating this”.

Meanwhile, University Hospitals Plymouth NHS Trust confirmed last month that its virtual ward beds are now more than 80% occupied with plans to expand further.