Venture Spotlight: Alcove

 

So what’s it all about?

Alcove’s IoT care technology ecosystem is pioneering independent living for older and disabled adults, and revolutionising the delivery of care and support services globally. By taking a software led approach and integrating sensors, wearables, Alexa and an in home video calling communication aid, Alcove is fundamentally disrupting the traditional telecare market. By embracing the world of connected, widely available smart technologies Alcove help providers cut costs and improve delivery of care while allowing people to remain independent in their homes for as long as possible. By installing our technology and taking a data led approach to the health and wellbeing of vulnerable residents, significant cost efficiencies can be identified for housing & care providers, residents can be monitored remotely (not everyone wants care workers in their house) to improve their quality of life and potential problems or accidents identified as and when they arise in a proactive fashion.

Alcove technology is available in a range of standard packages, from the ‘keep in touch’ package, which includes a device with simple video calling capabilities, to ‘dementia concern’, a sensor and telecommunication package that provides alerts, check-ins, and medicine prompts as well as being connected to family, friends and an emergency call centre.

Alcove recognise that each person has unique requirements depending on their circumstances and therefore it is possible to add or remove the technology based on individual needs.

We spoke to Hellen Bowey, CEO of Alcove:

How did you get involved with London Ventures?

We had heard of the London Ventures programme and thought that it was something that we would love to get involved in. We are passionate about driving deployment at scale of our solutions to such a hugely important problem facing society (as how to keep older adults living in their own homes for longer), and thought that London Ventures would offer us the opportunity to expand deeper and wider into Local Authorities.

What do you think is Alcove’s unique selling point?

More old people, living for longer, with multiple long term conditions and not enough care homes means that millions are lost annually in tax revenues as people take time off work or take early retirement to care for loved ones. Our end users want to remain living independently in their own homes even though they are in need of care and family members want the peace of mind that someone will be there even if they can’t be. 
In response to this Alcove are a challenger to the current market provision - hardwired pull cords and big red buttons, it's called the telecare market - and it offers stigmatising, hardwired, proprietary 'equipment' with limited functionality, no valuable data, and it's both expensive and reactive. Alcove is the only aggregator – others are doing sensors, some are doing wearables, some have made tablet based devices – we are the only firm to knit all of the devices together holistically, and using the power of software to innovate on consumer hardware.

The existing market solutions lack interoperability and provide little, if any data. Alcove offers a real-time, data-driven alternative, helping move from a reactive towards a preventative model. The data sets we collect span movement, heat, light, eating, med compliance, bathroom visits, carer visits, sleeping location and time, doors being left open, visitors, voice calls in and out, video calls in and out and our new AI led platform 'aiCOVE' puts much of that data to good use, for social good, and to improve the way people age in place at home.

Why is Alcove an exciting opportunity for London local authorities?

Pioneering technology-empowered independence is our vision of a long term care revolution. We don't believe putting pull cords in people's homes or big red buttons around their necks is a solution. Who aspires to that? We want people to buy Alcove because they want to not because they have to. Harnessing the potential of today's tools to have a significant, positive impact on people’s lives is what drives us.

Why you should get involved

Alcove is pioneering independent living for older and disabled adults and leading the way with innovative care package redesign, which is a must if Local Authorities want to get control of their spiralling Adult Social Care budgets. Revolutionising care and support by leveraging the power of today's consumer technology to empower users and provide care givers with better tools has got to be a no brainer.

Testimonial

MSH@Home is very happy to endorse and recommend the Alcove assertive technology system. The system allows us to track and monitor the reliability of our caring staffing in the field, as well as demonstrating that we never miss a call when it comes to CQC inspections.. It reduces client cost, because they may be able to reduce the number of care visits required in the day, but still have the security and peace of mind that their welfare is being monitored and they can remain living independently in the comfort of their own home.”

Justin Gaffney RN, CEO, MSH@Home

Find out more…

If you want to understand how Alcove can support your local authority, contact Hellen Bowey (hellen.bowey@youralcove.com) or Lisa Henry (lisa.henry@londoncouncils.gov.uk).