Meet the start-up: Sensing smarter care

Jim Patience, CEO of Anthropos tells Med-Tech Innovation about its technology platform that’s aiming to change the face of care in the UK.

First, tell us about Anthropos?

Anthropos is a technology platform, aiming to change the face of care in the UK. The platform connects to discreet, smart sensors around the home – which provide data we turn into usable intelligence that carers and family members can use to spot changes in the daily routines of an older person. This might include insight into how active an older person is, if they are managing their food and drink intake or if they are experiencing issues sleeping at night. In 2022, we are continuing to evolve the platform to address other key, preventable health concerns for older people.

Connected health has exploded since the pandemic, how’s your approach to it different?

The mission at Anthropos goes beyond simply monitoring the daily lives of older people. Our goal is to ultimately prevent the preventable – spotting critical but subtle changes to the daily routine of an older person that indicate something could go wrong without intervention, such as seeing changes in the pattern of behaviour of an older person which could indicate they are at risk of a UTI. By focusing on pre-emptive care and prevention, we believe we can support older people to stay at home safe, well and independent for longer.

Give us some insight into the platform that you’ve developed?

The Anthropos platform connects to IoT devices and smart sensors that are placed around the home. These detect movement – so can be placed in bedrooms (to indicate night-time movement/waking), on fridges (to indicate lack of consumption), in bathrooms (to indicate frequency of toilet visits), among others. Smart plugs can also be connected to things like kettles, which could indicate if an older person is drinking too little or is repetitively boiling the kettle.

The sensors monitor 24/7 and connect to the Anthropos platform, which turns the raw data into intelligence, offering insights into the older person’s routine and flagging any big changes or areas of concern. For example, if an older person is going to the toilet more often, this could indicate a UTI, which if left untreated, could become serious. Carers and family members can then use these insights to take immediate action, or to tweak their loved one’s care plan and ensure they’re getting the support they need.

What results have you seen from the use of your platform so far?

The platform has made a huge difference in the day to day lives of many older people.

One key example of this is in our collaboration with Home Instead, and an 89-year-old woman named Eileen – a user of the Anthropos system. Eileen lives with Alzheimer’s and having the technology in her home has made a huge difference for the level of support her family and carers can offer her. Prior to the sensors being installed, Eileen had been continuously admitted to hospital with UTIs. But, within 48 hours of having the system in place, the sensors identified that Eileen wasn’t drinking any liquids after her carer left in the early morning – and so was developing UTIs because of her dehydration. Having this information meant Eileen’s carers and family could adapt her care plan accordingly, preventing further infections from occurring.

Speaking about Anthropos, Eileen shared the heart-warming message: “The sensors are there, but I’m not aware of them all the time – just the secure feeling I am cared for and there’s always someone there for me.”

Any plans to advance your offering?

We already connect to over 50 devices and have been working to expand our product range to address more key health concerns for older people. We’re developing our solution to address three key preventables: falls, UTIs and medication mismanagement. These all tie into Anthropos’ mission: to prevent the preventable and keep older people at home safely for longer.

Anything else you’d like to add?

These are still early days for Connected Care Platforms like Anthropos, but you can expect to see us developing the platform to monitor the environment a person lives in, their patterns of behaviour, their wellbeing, and their safety and security. The development of this entire sector is being led by innovative start-ups who see an opportunity to change the models of both health and social care.