The Place of AI and Deep Learning in the UK Home Care Sector: Future Advancements and Risks
The influence of AI on the home care sector, supporting tasks and monitoring while keeping human care at the centre
AI technology and deep learning have become influential in almost every sector and industry – and home care is no different. Over recent years, we've seen advancements in everything from fitness trackers to smart heating systems, chatbots and banking apps, with equal excitement about innovation and concerns about data protection and the safe use of AI.
Last year, a collaborative event hosted by The Care Workers' Charity and other partners invited frontline care professionals to share their thoughts and debate how AI can be used responsibly and ethically within the care sector in general. This culminated in the publication of a Care Workers' Guidance and Statement.
Guardian Angel Carers, a leading and multi-award-winning nationwide network of independent home care providers, clarifies what this all means, how and where AI may be used, and why there is such a need for a careful balance between skilled in-person care and technology.
Reflecting on the Role of AI Resources and Tools in the Home Care Space
We'll start by reiterating that qualified, compassionate, friendly, and warm carers will never be replaced. We acknowledge that for many of the families and individuals who depend on visiting, live-in, or overnight care, discussions around AI can seem daunting and worrying and be perceived as having negative impacts on the in-person, family-feel care we provide.
Instead, AI is something we see as a tool that can be beneficial in terms of efficiency, maximising the time our CareAngels spend with each care recipient.
For instance, it can be used to augment administration tasks like record keeping and provide automated, real-time communications to ensure our care managers and community carers can share updates and information immediately – especially when they relate to changes to care planning for somebody they are en route to visit.
AI technology is commonly viewed as a way to supersede human jobs, but this simply doesn't apply to home care. Resources are there to support the invaluable companionship, emotional support, and friendship our carers are well known for.
One of the first takeaways from the Statement we're discussing today was this shared emphasis, which provided absolute unanimous clarity about how we as home care professionals view AI tools and how we can work collectively to put the right safeguards, controls, and human management in place to ensure AI and deep learning expand our capacity, time, and in-person care without taking over any element of one-to-one care delivery.
Understanding the Applications of AI Technologies in UK Home Care
AI can feel like an abstract concept, and although we use it continuously during daily tasks and chores, we think a useful discussion is around how we might use AI in a care setting or within the context of scheduling care visits, matching CareAngels with care recipients, and safeguarding people from preventable harms.
Remote monitoring is one of the standout uses of AI in-home care, something we've integrated into our StayClose service. Eliminating privacy intrusions or any form of monitoring or recording, StayClose uses secure apps that discreetly monitor vital factors, such as movement, the temperature in a home, and light.
These sensors are customisable and are designed to provide crucial notifications if there is a potential that a person has fallen, become unwell, stopped following their usual routines, or requires emergency medical assistance.
This approach may be ideal for those who are happily living independently but have concerns about what might happen if they were, for example, to become injured, or whose families want a way to stay in touch and be reassured that all is well, without intruding on their loved ones’ privacy and right to independence.
Intelligent monitoring is also being rolled out in other parts of the social care sector, with remote tracking to detect changes in vital signs, provide early alerts when respiratory rates fall, and ensure carers are alerted when there is a cause for concern, prompting a call, check-in, or additional visit to verify whether the person requires extra support.
In other uses, AI is a way to optimise scheduling, removing issues around carers rushing between visits due to overbooking, having limited time with each care recipient, and identifying when a CareAngel is on leave and their visiting care appointments need to be allocated to a colleague.
Essential Controls, Policies and Managed Usage of Home Care AI Systems
While the benefits of fast, adaptive, and agile software and communication solutions are clear, the Statement also highlighted the need for robust policies and protocols, whether in the use of AI or in the products and detectors used to augment in-home care support.
Part of the guidance for home care agencies and social care organisations mentions the huge importance of training and developing transparent policies that set out how AI is used and who is responsible for its introduction and ongoing management.
There are also established risks around reliance on AI, where the vast majority of tasks that can be expedited or streamlined through the strategic use of technology remain subject to error, incorrect assumptions or gaps in deep learning.
That means a qualified, experienced person must always have oversight, be able to double-check decisions based on AI analytics and intervene if any aspect could have adverse outcomes - such as sensor failure or false alarms.
Finally, the issues around data confidentiality and the threat of data theft cannot be ignored, and any system, solution or function that is transitioned into an AI-based alternative needs to have fail-safes, vigorous security and safeguards.
These are there to ensure that any data of any nature, that is collected about a care recipient, care professionals, or the interactions between home care providers and their clients, is not exposed to misuse, access by any unauthorised person, or cross-sharing between unapproved third parties.
Overall, AI stands to provide significant benefits in home care and optimises the way we expand our capacity and specialisms to cater to the ongoing demand for skilled at-home support—but keeping all these considerations in mind is key to ensuring AI is advantageous to all.
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About Guardian Angel Carers
Guardian Angel Carers is a leading home care provider dedicated to delivering compassionate, personalised care services. With a strong focus on independence, dignity, and quality of life, the company supports individuals in the comfort of their own homes, offering a range of services from companionship to complex care needs.