The Government's recent announcement on social care, particularly the focus on technology to support people at home, is a welcome and necessary step. There are many ways care technology can help, not just in providing immediate response to emergency alerts for, say, a fall. It can proactively respond to changes in someone's ability to manage daily tasks, averting a crisis and the need for costlier care. It can enable care practitioners to reassure families that people are receiving the support they need. It can also provide better outcomes for people with learning disabilities and autism, reducing the long-term cost of care.

However, making a success of care technology rarely has anything to do with the technology itself. Investing only in devices without addressing the underlying human and systemic factors won't cut it. To truly transform care, we need to focus on the key factors that ensure it is used effectively.