How can I take care of my elderly parents remotely?

None of this has to be set up in one weekend. You can add a piece at a time, starting with whichever of the five worries you most. Money and legal access are the easiest to put off and the most important to arrange early, because they only work if they are in place before your parent needs them, not after.

Start with whichever worry is largest rather than installing everything at once. A parent who is anxious about a fall is usually better served by a telecare pendant, which reaches a person, than by a camera, which only reaches a screen.

If your parent already has an alarm, check it will keep working after the old analogue landline network is switched off in January 2027. Citizens Advice suggests telling the phone provider that your parent uses a personal alarm, asking the alarm provider whether it works on a digital line, and asking about backup power in case of a power cut.

Is it illegal to film carers in your home? sets out the legal position on cameras in more detail, and technology for living alone looks at the wider range of home technology beyond safety alone.

1. 1

   A short call most days

   A few minutes

   Even just to say goodnight. It becomes the thread that tells you something is wrong before a bigger sign does.
2. 2

   A longer video call every week

   Weekly

   Seeing your parent and their home catches what a voice alone can miss: weight loss, a bruise, clutter building up, or a look that is not quite right. WhatsApp, Google Meet and FaceTime all work, and if your parent already has a smartphone or tablet, one of these is usually already on it. Microsoft closed Skype to new calls in May 2025, so if that is what they are used to, it is worth moving them across now rather than during a crisis.
3. 3

   Company that is not always you

   As needed

   A weekly call from a telephone friendship service, or a free helpline for older people, gives your parent somebody to talk to on the days you cannot.
4. 4

   A note of what changed, kept somewhere shared

   After each call or visit

   A simple shared note means a change one sibling notices does not get lost before the next family conversation. If a carer visits, their visit reports can do some of this job, as the next section explains.

If your parent is resisting calls, refusing help altogether, or seems different from how you remember them, dealing with irrational elderly parents and how do you tell someone they need care? are written for exactly that.

Agreeing the split out loud, and writing it down afterwards, helps avoid resentment later on. Holding a family meeting about care explains how to run that conversation, sharing care between siblings looks at dividing the work fairly, and when siblings are not helping is for when one of you is doing far more than the others. If one sibling holds your parent's Lasting Power of Attorney, when a sibling has power of attorney sets out what they can and cannot decide alone. The organising care as a family guide brings all of this together.

1. 1

   Ask their GP surgery about proxy access

   Set up once

   Proxy access, which the NHS now calls family and carer access, lets you see your parent's GP record and book appointments or order repeat prescriptions from your own NHS App, with their consent. In most cases you ask your parent's surgery for it, and you may both need to fill in a form and show photo ID. Some surgeries are trialling an application inside the NHS App, but only where you and your parent are registered at the same surgery. If your parent cannot consent, the surgery decides based on their best interests, and a health and welfare Lasting Power of Attorney helps show you are the right person.
2. 2

   Use online GP consultations for anything that is not urgent

   Ongoing

   Since October 2025, GP practices in England have had to keep their online consultation form open from 8am to 6.30pm on weekdays for non-urgent requests, medication questions and admin. It saves waiting in a phone queue, and you can fill it in together with your parent on a video call.
3. 3

   Know where to go if something changes quickly

   Keep this handy

   NHS 111 online talks through symptoms and points to the right next step, whether that is a pharmacy, an appointment or urgent care, and 111 by phone is there if going online is not possible. For an emergency it is 999, the same as anywhere else.
4. 4

   Simplify the tablets

   One conversation with the pharmacist

   A dosette box or a blister pack sorted by the pharmacy each week reduces the chance of a missed or doubled dose, and most pharmacies will also flag a repeat prescription that has not been collected.

If something happens while you are hours awaySection titled If%20something%20happens%20while%20you%20are%20hours%20away

If a neighbour or the alarm service rings to say your parent has fallen or been taken to hospital, ask which hospital and which ward, then ring the ward yourself and say you are their next of kin. Tell the ward early that your parent lives alone and how far away you are, so the people planning their discharge know before they arrange the journey home. After a fall and a trip to A&E and discharge tomorrow with no care in place cover the days that follow, and emergency care explains how to find a carer at short notice. If the relative who usually helps nearby is the one who falls ill, if you get ill: the emergency plan sets out what to write down now so somebody else can step in.

If your parent has already lost the ability to make these decisions and there is no Lasting Power of Attorney in place, deputyship through the Court of Protection is the fallback, though it costs more and takes longer than an LPA arranged in advance. Am I legally responsible for my elderly parent? covers what you are and are not obliged to do for them in law.

Between visits, keep a bag packed and know the quickest route there at short notice, including the last train and the cost of a one-way ticket. If there are several of you living away, taking turns so somebody visits every few weeks keeps the gaps shorter than everyone going at the same time.

If you work, two rights help. Every employee can take up to one week of unpaid carer's leave every 12 months from their first day in a job, and can ask for flexible working from their first day too. Balancing work with caring covers talking to your employer.

You can search and message carers near your parent from wherever you are, see their rates, reviews and availability, and arrange the first visit without needing to be there yourself. How does live-in care work? and respite care are worth reading if you are planning a longer trip away and want somebody covering the whole time, and companionship care if company and a friendly face matter more than personal care right now.