Products – Age Care Technologies

Products

Our unique digital technologies

By 2030 we will have helped 100 million older people live their best lives and will have reduced pressure on caregivers and care systems, through uptake of ACT unique digital technologies.

A lady cares for an aging man by helping him to eat a meal

ACT products

ACT® Assess

The only globally validated method (based on 30 years of international research) which helps older people report concerns about the top 56 threats to independence and wellbeing in old age.

ACT Assess is the only globally validated method to help older people report their concerns and priorities for support relating to threats to independence and well-being.

After 30 years of international research, we’ve identified the top 56 threats and the best way for older people to report their concerns and priorities for support.

The 56 threats are mapped to the World Health Organisation Framework for Integrated Care for Older People (ICOPE), covering:

Sensory loss
Mobility problems
Psychological distress and depression
Cognitive problems
Nutrition, vitality, and general health
Limitations in daily living activities
Loneliness
Accommodation problems
Financial difficulties
Safety concerns
Lack of social participation

ACT® Connect

Automated channels to provide older people and their family carers with signposting to local sources of support, information resources, risks which need to be escalated to professionals and access to social networking for a better life.

ACT Connect is a proprietary method to help older people access support, covering:

Signposting to local services, mapped to the 56 threats
Signposting to support services for family and other informal carers
Provision of nationally curated information resources to help with self/management
Escalations to professionals for critical risks
Access to social networking for older people

Following an ACT Assess and Connect review, older people are provided with a personalised Connect Report containing all the information they need to address their concerns, priorities for support, and where they can access this support within their local area.

ACT Connect can also identify people who would benefit from preventive care under WHO ICOPE guidance.

ACT® Insight

Analysis and reporting of unique data to inform policy, service, and product development for ageing populations.

ACT Insight provides policymakers, researchers, commissioners, product developers, and service providers with unique information about the concerns and priorities of older people, interventions, and outcomes in populations where the ACT Assess and Connect tools are used.

Data is extracted to a global research database which can be used for comparative analysis of needs in different populations and for international benchmarking.

The information can then be used to describe the need in a population for preventive care under WHO ICOPE guidance.

How ACT® tools are used

ACT Assess can be used independently to generate data for population needs assessment with ACT Insight, but primarily to help older people report their concerns and access support. Combining the tools lets us extract the data to analyse population needs.

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Target

The service is designed for people aged 60+ but can be used with all adults. Population management systems and primary care records are used to target the service further, such as for people:

Within the general population living at home
Who are poor or live in areas of deprivation
With indicators of high risk of breakdown in care
Who are socially isolated
Who have physical, cognitive, or learning disability
Who are from groups with low trust in the care system

Customers can choose which groups to target.

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Engage

Trusted sources such a primary care or well-known voluntary sector organisations will send an invitation to the targeted group with the offer of the service.

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Assess

ACT Assess consists of a semi-structured questionnaire which covers the top 56 concerns relating to threats to independence and wellbeing. These concerns are underreported. The assessment will be conducted by telephone or face-to-face by trained advisors. It can also be self-completed.

The 56 threats are organised into six domains and typically, an older person will report 8-12 concerns.

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Connect

After reviewing the concerns, the person will prioritise those for which they would like help. They will be provided with:

Sources for support locally to address prioritised concerns
Information about where carers can receive help and advice, to share with family and other informal carers
Information resources to help with self-management
Significant risks identified during the assessment, relating to injurious falls, depression, cognitive impairment, or evidence of abuse, where professional help is needed
Access to social networking services for a better life

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Report

A summary report of the outcomes of the ACT Assess and Connect review is provided by secure email or discussed with the person by an advisor to help the person understand their options for help.

With their consent, a copy of the report can be provided to the person’s health and care providers.

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Insight

Subject to consent, information is de-identified and extracted to a data base for population analysis of concerns, priorities for support, significant risks, other indicators for interventions, notional resource allocation requirements, quality of life profiles, satisfaction with process and measures of impact. Insight Reports are generated for the customer, researchers, and policymakers.

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Follow up

Annual follow-up is recommended, or more frequently based on needs, by agreement with the person.

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Impact

The outputs of 35 years’ research in the development, validation, and evaluation of use of the tools in over 50 countries have been reported in over 100 scientific publications. There is compelling evidence that use of the tools helps to reduce suffering, increase independence, and improve quality of life. Their use also reduces demand on services. Benefits are achieved within six months, and if the service is provided on an annual basis for 7-10 years will provide the person with an average of one extra year of good quality life. The reduction in the costs of care is about 80-100 times the cost of the service over this period.”

Life-changing

“We helped almost 250 people liberate £600,000 of benefits which was life-changing for a lot of older people.”

Lee Hampston, Bridlington

Making aging a community opportunity

“Through being better informed there is an opportunity of rapidly aging population being something that isn’t viewed as a threat to services, but could be seen as a place of the development for community assets.”

Mark Shenton, Suffolk

A great opportunity

“The thing I love about the ACT program is the emphasis on prevention and the opportunity to identify someone’s support needs before they get to the point where they may be in crisis.”

Claire Shelton, Kent

Exactly what's needed

“We have found an autonomous approach and a degree of us being able to guide and flex accordingly what is needed for our local population.”

Sadia Rashid, Kent

Proactive approach

“As healthcare professionals in Pakistan, using 35+ years of research tools such as ACT to assess hundreds of older adults will enable us to effectively target, personalize, and improve our care strategies towards the elderly. ACT’s proactive, preventative approach and international collaboration help us share our experiences and learn from other countries, keeping us at the forefront of geriatric care despite socio-economic and political challenges.”

Dr. Zafar Hydrie & Dr. Sumaira Nasim

Meeting global needs

“Age Care Technologies is a wonderful international initiative which has evolved over decades, and have been painstakingly refined and further developed through international collaborations. ACT, therefore, brings together the international community and allows for information sharing and benchmarking of services, which is what is really needed to ensure that the needs of older adults are met globally.”

Tan Maw Pin

Optimistic for our area

“We’re optimistic this will be spread across the whole of Kent and Medway.”

Cathy Bellman, Kent

Interested in finding out more?

Our team is on a decades long journey to aid the care of older people.

Age Care Technologies® Products