The short answer
- Match the technology to the task, not to what looks impressiveA voice assistant, a delivery order and a pendant alarm can take over prompts, shopping and some checking in. They cannot wash, dress or keep somebody company.
- The cheapest changes come firstA recurring grocery order and a medication reminder cost little and can remove a visit that only existed for a prompt or a small errand.
- An alarm nobody answers is just a noiseA sensor or pendant only helps if a family member, a monitoring centre or a carer can act on the alert, so plan who responds before you buy anything.
- Personal care and company are not for sale as gadgetsNICE guidance says telecare should not replace personal contact unless the person wants it to, and no device on the market washes, dresses or sits with someone.
Once technology has taken what it safely can, the visits left are usually the ones worth booking a carer for. On PrimeCarers that is £18 to £25 an hour with our fee included, against £28 to £35 through an agency.
Task by task
Which of a carer's jobs can technology take over, and which can it not
A carer's visit is a bundle of separate jobs. Some of them, like a reminder or a grocery run, a machine or a website can do just as well. Others cannot be handed to a device at all, whatever it claims to do.
Shopping, prescription collection and cooking a meal
Technology that helps
A recurring online grocery order, and a ready meal delivery service for the days nobody can cook
A supermarket delivery slot or a frozen ready meal service such as Wiltshire Farm Foods or Cook covers the food itself. Somebody still has to put the shopping away, notice if the freezer is filling up with meals nobody is eating, and cook the occasional proper meal a delivery service cannot replace.
Prompting medication, meals and appointments through the day
Technology that helps
A dosette box with a timed alarm, an automatic pill dispenser, or a voice assistant reminder
A dispenser releases the right pills at the right time and can message a family member if a dose is missed. It cannot confirm the tablets were swallowed rather than left in the tray, and it cannot judge whether a person is too confused to follow it that day.
Noticing a fall, a wander outside, or someone not moving around the house
Technology that helps
A pendant or wrist alarm, a bed or chair sensor, a GPS tracker with a safe zone, or passive home sensors
These can call for help faster than a scheduled check-in visit ever could, and a GPS tracker is often suggested for someone with dementia who is at risk of wandering. They only help if somebody, a family member, a monitoring centre or a carer, can get there afterwards.
Conversation, company, and somebody noticing how the person seems that day
Technology that helps
Voice assistants, video calls, family group chats
The Alzheimer’s Society is direct about this: assistive technology can never replace human contact, and using it to try to do so can leave a person more isolated, not less.
Washing, dressing, help with the toilet, help standing up or moving safely
Technology that helps
None. No consumer device performs hands-on personal care.
This is the part of a visit technology cannot touch. If this is the task that is missing, the answer is a carer, not a gadget.
Worth trying first
The inexpensive technology that removes a visit booked only for a prompt or an errand
These are the changes most families can make without advice from anyone, and they tend to pay for themselves within a few weeks against the cost of an extra visit.
A recurring grocery or ready meal order
None of this needs a professional visit to set up, and trying one device costs little enough that getting it wrong is not a serious loss. The next tier, covered below, is worth a conversation with a GP, an occupational therapist, or the council's own funding routes before you spend anything, because it is more expensive and some of it can be lent to you for free.
Alarms, sensors and dispensers
Automatic monitoring: what each device catches, and what it misses
This tier is about somebody, or something, noticing when help is needed rather than a family member checking in on a schedule. It replaces the least useful kind of visit, the one that exists only to see that nothing has gone wrong, but it depends entirely on somebody being able to act on the alert.
What each kind of device is for
0 of 6 ticked
Falls and emergencies
Location and wandering
Medication
General activity
Most of this tier can be tried before you buy: many councils lend telecare equipment through an occupational therapist, sometimes free and sometimes for a small charge, once a carer's or needs assessment has looked at what is needed. Asking for that assessment is free and does not depend on income.
What no device can do
What technology cannot do instead of a carer
Every device above answers a specific worry. None of them does the two things a private carer's visit is usually booked for.
Still needs a person, whatever the device claims
0 of 4 ticked
Hands-on care
Judgement and company
Family and neighbours can fill some of this gap without buying anything: a shared group chat to coordinate who is visiting, or a spare key with a neighbour who is willing to look in, does more for company and reassurance than another app. If loneliness rather than a task is the problem, a companionship carer is built around exactly that, and is often cheaper than the personal care rate because no hands-on help is involved.
Cost and how to start
Weighing the cost, and how to start without buying everything at once
Work out which visits technology can remove before you spend anything, then try one device and see what is left.
- 1
List what each visit is for
TodayWrite down why each visit happens: personal care, a meal cooked, a prompt, or just somebody checking nothing has gone wrong. Only the last two are ones technology can take on. - 2
Trial one device before buying more
This weekStart with whichever gap is cheapest to close, usually a grocery order or a voice assistant reminder, and see how it gets used before spending on anything else. - 3
Decide who answers an alert, before you fit a sensor or alarm
Before you buyA pendant alarm or sensor is only useful if a named person can act on it. Agree who that is, and what they do next, before it is fitted. - 4
Book a carer for what is left
Free to searchSearch carers near you for the visits technology cannot cover: personal care, a proper cooked meal, or company. Every profile shows a carer’s rate and reviews, and their identity, right to work and enhanced DBS are checked before the profile appears. - 5
Review after a few weeks
OngoingNeeds change, and so does what a device can keep up with. Revisit the list in a month and adjust the visits up or down; there is no package to renegotiate.
Questions
Questions families ask about technology and care
No. It can remove visits that were only there for a reminder, an errand or a check that nothing had gone wrong. It cannot wash, dress or help someone to the toilet, and NICE guidance says telecare should not replace personal contact unless the person using it wants it to. The benefits of a private carer sets out what a person still does that a device cannot.
A recurring grocery order and a voice assistant for reminders and hands-free calls. Both are inexpensive, need no professional advice to set up, and tend to remove the visits that were booked only for a small errand or a prompt.
Usually not directly. Most pendant alarms connect to a 24-hour monitoring centre, which speaks to the person and calls a family member or emergency services if needed. Some newer pendants can detect a fall and raise the alert without a button press, but check this with the supplier before assuming it, since not all of them do.
Only if they cannot understand or agree to the decision themselves, and even then it should involve whoever holds welfare power of attorney or is otherwise entitled to decide on their behalf. The Alzheimer’s Society is clear that no decision about assistive technology should be made without the person’s consent wherever they are able to give it. Mental capacity in care explains when someone else can decide for them.
Prices vary by supplier and change over time, so it is worth asking directly, but most monitored alarms and sensor packages are a one-off purchase plus a modest monthly subscription, well below the cost of an extra weekly visit, which runs £18 to £25 an hour on PrimeCarers. Ask your council about a needs assessment first, since some equipment can be lent to you free.
Often, yes. A needs assessment from an occupational therapist can identify equipment the council will lend, sometimes free and sometimes for a small charge, and it does not depend on your income. How to ask for a needs assessment covers the process.
Possibly not without checking. The UK’s old analogue phone lines are being replaced with a digital system, due to complete by January 2027, and some older telecare alarms rely on the analogue line to work. This guide to home technology covers what to check and when.
Cameras inside your own home are legal, but a carer who visits regularly and is paid for it can change what data protection law requires of you, including where the camera can point. Is it illegal to film a carer in your home? sets out the rules in full.