SMART FACILITIES IN HOMES: EFFICIENCY OF SMART ASSISTIVE FACILITIES FOR ELDERLY IN SINGAPORE

Abstract

In recent years, Singapore has been experiencing an ageing population with the rapid increase in the number of senior citizens. While it is crucial to provide better health treatment and enhanced initiatives for the elderly, there may be limited resources in catering to the rising demand. Thus, there is a pressing need for the government to seek alternatives in tackling the issue of a ‘silver tsunami’ in Singapore. On an individual level, the rising cost and time spent on the elderly has been a pressure added on the family caregivers as well. Smart assistive facilities for the elderly may serve as potential solutions in providing healthcare and eldercare. Furthermore, with the increase in smart facilities embedded in homes, which dovetails with the current Smart Nation movement introduced by the government since 2014, such facilities should be studied on. Hence, this research focuses on the problem of increased cost and time spent on eldercare by individuals and healthcare institutions. The purpose of the research is to study the possible cost and time savings brought about with the use of the smart facilities in homes. Besides the potential benefits, the link between the elderly and the smart assistive facilities will be established in this report. In particular, the Smart Health Tele-Rehab and the Smart Elderly Alert System formed the basis of the research. The results suggested that there are possible time and cost savings in general with the implementation of these systems. In addition, the advantages and disadvantages of the smart facilities were also highlighted. Further recommendations on future research on the systems were suggested considering the limitations of the research conducted.