Jennifer is in her 20’s and lives in a sheltered housing flat within an occupied home for adults with learning disabilities. Jennifer has lived here for a long time and feels secure within her environment but there have been several occasions when she has forgotten to take her medication.
Jennifer takes medication for arthritis, hypertension and anxiety. There is a 24-hour care service available where she lives but residents are encouraged to lead an independent life and for some to take their own medication without being monitored. There have been several occasions recently when Jennifer has forgotten to take her medication which has resulted in her becoming unwell and she recently had to be brought home from her workshop.
As a result of forgetting to take her medicine the carers have been monitoring Jennifer’s medication but would like to her remain as independent as possible and to be able to revert back to taking her own medication. The telecare equipment recommended by the assessor was a lifeline unit and medication prompt added to the unit. Additionally a medication dispenser was considered but this would not detect if medication has been taken and would need to be loaded independently or by carers.
Once the unit was installed there was a facility to record a message (can be a voice known to the client). Once the message is recorded, at the designated time of taking medication the unit would flash and bleep for 5 minutes, Jennifer would then go to the unit and press the green button, once pressed the designated voice would automatically start to issue the required reminder (e.g. “Jennifer it’s time to take your pills”). If the green button is not pressed it would then send a call either to the carers/contact centre who would then act on the agreed instructions.
The medication prompt was a very simple and effective way to help Jennifer maintain her independent living as it has allowed her to still have control over her medication with the reassurance for her and her carers that is she misses a dosage then the contact centre would know and contact her to remind her.
