A REPORT has found that councils could save £730m in care costs if more is done to help elderly people in their own homes.

Department of Healthaccredited FACE assessment tools have identified savings of between £3m and £7.8m for councils with social services responsibilities across England, approximately 7.4 per cent to 19.4 per cent of their social care budget for older people.

The report looked at the costs of providing care services for people who needed care at home and those that needed residential care. It showed that targeted use of telecare could augment care provided by friends and family, providing a 24-hour human response to events that impact on a person’s quality of life and potential emergency situations.

The research looked at health-monitoring solutions for the likes of falls, seizures and the taking of prescription drugs, as well as environmental monitoring, which looks at leaving the property during the night, changes in temperature extremes and potential emergencies for those who suffer from Alzheimer’s and similar conditions.

Paul Clifford, managing director of FACE, said: “In addition to confirming the savings realisable through telecare, the major benefit of this report is that it shows that there is a straightforward method of moving from accurate assessment of a relatively small set of individuals, to robust prediction of the impact of telecare on a larger population.

“Moreover, the ability to monitor the extent to which those savings are being realised, based on routine practice, is a major leap forward.”