Research commissioned by a group of care organisations has uncovered people’s top priorities for technology enabled care (TEC).

The TEC Action Alliance, a group of around 30 care organisations including Care England and the Homecare Association, wanted to find out how people who draw on care and support, their families, and unpaid carers, use technology to support their lives. The alliance commissioned the research because most previous studies in this area include views from care staff and organisations, rather than people who draw on services.

The research showed that people want nine main things from technology enabled care:

• Awareness: To know more about the ways in which technology can meet their needs
• Independence: Devices and systems that support them to do more for themselves
• Control: To maintain control over care technology, wherever possible
• Reassurance: Peace of mind for themselves and their families through connected technology
• Seamlessness: Technology that is joined-up and compatible with familiar devices
• Personalisation: Technology to be tailored to their needs and offer them genuine choice
• Equal decision-making A say in the design and functionality of their care technology
• Support: Help, advice and training if they struggle to access or adopt technology
• Privacy and security: Reassurance around online safety and autonomy over their data

The TEC Action Alliance is calling on local authority social care commissioners and housing providers to ensure suppliers respond to the nine principles in their bids for technology enabled care.

The report, Implementing TEC so we can all live gloriously ordinary lives, also identifies the need for a common language to describe all types of TEC. It finds that currently, commissioners, service providers and suppliers use different terms, often with technical phrases.

The report also recommends raising awareness of TEC amongst NHS primary care and community services, allowing professionals to signpost people to TEC services so they can manage their own health and delay the need for more intensive care and support.

Alyson Scurfield, chief executive of TEC Services Association (TSA) and co-chair of the TEC Action Alliance said: “Over two million people in the UK already use technology enabled care but there is an opportunity to support many more people to live happily and independently at home. We’ll never realise this potential if we don’t ask people what they want from digital care, and then design services and solutions around these ambitions – rather than assuming we know what they want.”