The technology is particularly helpful for those living with dementia
Nottinghamshire County Council’s County Hall in West Bridgford(Image: Joseph Raynor/Nottingham Post)
A Nottinghamshire mum with dementia was able to avoid being placed in a care home after technology traced her steps.
It comes as the Reform-led Nottinghamshire County Council said it has avoided more than £2.6 million in cost pressures in its adult social care department.
The authority has run a technology-enabled care (TEC) service since 2007, helping adults across the county stay independent and remain in their own homes for longer.
Some of the technology installed in people’s homes includes sensors to help detect falls, incontinence and unusual patterns in daily habits, as well as door and object sensors that trace a person’s independence at home.
Speaking in the council’s adult social care committee meeting on Wednesday (March 18), Katy Ball, the council’s service director for commissioning, shared a case study with councillors, where the technology is particularly helpful for those living with dementia.
She said: “A family that was really worried about mum, there had been reports of mum leaving the house [at night] – mum had got early dementia… they were really worried and she probably needed to go into a care home.
“We’re able to go in and put technology into the home – that doesn’t film people all the time -but actually alerts where the mum is.”
Through sensors being placed around the woman’s home, it showed the mum’s daily patterns and that she was not leaving the home at night but was struggling to wash and dress herself.
This meant the family could have peace of mind about the mum’s whereabouts, but the council could then arrange early-morning support to help the woman get out of bed, get dressed, and get washed.
Councillor Barry Answer (Ref), cabinet member for adult social care, said: “It doesn’t matter if they’ve got a little buzzer on their kettles to see if they’ve used the kettle.
“It means we know them and can help and support them and we know what they really want, from top to bottom, without anyone sat with them – it’s just absolutely brilliant technology.”
The authority’s success with boosting technology-enabled care into its adult social care service has been growing over recent years.
In January 2026, the technology-enabled care service supported 5,058 adults, up from 4,600 in March 2025 and Ms Ball said 70.7 per cent of people receiving support to stay at home now have “some sort of technology” as part of their care – compared to 46 per cent this time two years ago.
Around £2.67 million worth of adult social care cost pressures have also been avoided due to technology-enabled care being installed between April 1, 2025, to January 31, 2026.
This is on top of costs of £2.75 million being avoided through using technology-enabled care between April to December 2024.
Cllr Joseph Rich (Ref) asked service officials for clarity on how these avoided cost pressures were calculated.
Ms Ball explained the adult social care service assesses “the likelihood” of what care it would be spending its money on if the technology was not installed, with a common alternative option being residential care, which is costly for local authorities.
Mark Douglas, technology-enabled care manager, said: “If you’re talking about preventing something that’s going to happen in the future there’s an element of guesswork in that, I will be honest.
“But the method we use in Nottinghamshire really is quite strict compared to other local authorities.
“We calculate if someone doesn’t go into a residential care home, there’s obviously a saving associated with that… we don’t [calculate it as a gross saving] in Nottinghamshire.
“If anyone is assessed as a high and immediate risk of a residential care admission, we track those people and if we provide services to keep them in their own home, we subtract that from the cost of the [theoretical] residential care placement.”
The council’s update formed part of the adults technology-enabled care strategy from 2024 to 2027, approved by the then Conservative-led council in March 2024, seeking to expand the service in the adults department.
