Introduction

One powerful reason for the use of social alarms is a concern about the consequences of falls experienced by older people. Indeed, as noted in Chapter One, the image of someone who had fallen and was unable to call for help became, as noted in Chapter Ten, an icon for social alarms and featured frequently in the advertising of both manufacturers and service providers.

The inappropriateness of the iconography was noted. It is undeniable, however, that social alarms have a role to play in enabling older people to call for help after they have fallen or, as noted in Chapter Three and as strongly affirmed in the work of Thornton and Mountain (1992), when they are stuck. More than this, one of the main benefits and possibly the main benefit of social alarms has been repeatedly affirmed as facilitating speedy interventions and thereby avoiding the adverse consequences of lying unaided for sustained periods.

The long-standing focus on the benefits of social alarms in relation to falls was a reflection of the fact that, while most services were located within housing departments, there was considerable relevance to social welfare and healthcare agendas. That such relevance was recognised by some was noted in Chapter Four. But the small scale of such recognition in Great Britain was instrumental in marginalising social alarms and arguably held them back from realising a greater potential.

The technological changes associated with smart homes, telemedicine and telecare, discussed in Chapters Eleven and Twelve, and the gradual awakening of social welfare and healthcare practitioners and policy makers to the potential of social alarms means, however, that a greater potential stands to be realised. The dangers associated with this relate to that potential being realised in ways that are narrowly focused on clinical objectives and which would be likely to treat older people as patients as opposed to service users. Chapter Twelve was clear about this and about some of the ethical issues that need to be addressed. Closely relating to this are the dilemmas associated with what has become known as lifestyle monitoring.

Lifestyle monitoring is a direct descendant of passive and activity monitoring.