Do community alarm users want telecare?

Previous surveys have suggested that community alarm users are in general s atisfied with the service provided. However, there is also evidence that us ers would like additional options that could be provided by a telecare syst em. Inner-city users of community alarms were consulted about their current systems and the extension of these to incorporate telecare options. The us ers lived in 160 homes in three multistorey apartment blocks, The average a ge of the 176 users surveyed was 76 years. Seventy-seven per cent of users were interested in automatic fall detection, 68% in lifestyle monitoring, 5 7% in telemedicine and 46% in videoconferencing. Nineteen of those intervie wed (11%) did not want any of the suggested enhancements. The survey showed that elderly people are not technophobes, since 58% possessed either a mic rowave oven or a video-recorder, and also showed that the majority were pre pared to accept new technologies that would support their independence.