Technology enabled care
Support provided or funded by local authorities in Scotland 2023/24

Official statistics in development

Published: 21 January 2025 (Latest release)
Type: Statistical report
Author: Public Health Scotland

Social and community care

About this release

This annual release by Public Health Scotland (PHS) provides information on Technology Enabled Care funded by Local Authorities in Scotland throughout financial year 2023/24. Technology Enabled Care allows people to live safer and independent lives by reducing the risks of falls and vulnerable situations through technology and equipment. Information is reported on the number of people and the demographic breakdown of those in receipt of Technology Enabled Care, along with the type of support e.g. Community alarm and/or Telecare and the percentage of people with a community alarm and/or telecare who also receive Care at Home. Care at home is care tailored to the needs of an individual that is provided in a person’s own home including support with personal care and other tasks around the house.

Main points

In 2023/24, the estimated total number of people in Scotland receiving Technology Enabled Care was 131,560 compared to 130,425 in 2022/23. A similar level with a less than 1% increase.
During 2023/24, the age of those in receipt of a Technology Enabled Care package was known for 99.8% of people. The vast majority of people (86.5%) were aged 65 or older with the split of 14.8% aged 65-74, 34.3% aged 75-84 and 37.4% aged 85 & over. The remaining individuals were younger adults - only 0.5% were under the age of 18.
The number of people receiving Technology Enabled Care decreased as the level of deprivation decreased. Just under 23% of people receiving a Technology Enabled Care package were within the most deprived quintile compared to just over 16% in the least deprived quintile. These percentages are very similar to 2022/23.
In 2023/24, of the people who were in receipt of Technology Enabled Care 41.6% were also in receipt of Care at Home services. This is an increase of 1.1 percentage points from 2022/23.

This is a line chart showing for each year, between 2015/16 and 2023/24, the estimated number of people in receipt of a technology enabled care package. There is a line each for people receiving a community alarm only, people receiving telecare only, people receiving both a community alarm and telecare and the total number of people receiving a community alarm and/or telecare.

For people receiving a community alarm and/or telecare the figure in 2023/24 is higher than in 2015/16 but lower than the highest number of people which was in 2018/19.

For people receiving both a community alarm and telecare the figure is 2023/24 is slightly higher than in 2015/16 but lower than the highest number of people which as in 2018/19.

For people receiving telecare only the number in 2023/24 is the highest in the time period presented.

For people receiving community alarms only the figure in 2023/24 is lower than in 2015/16. — Image caption **Number of people in receipt of a Technology Enabled Care Package; Scotland, 2015/16 to 2023/24**

Background

Information is provided for people who are in receipt of Technology Enabled Care which is fully or partially funded by the local authority. PHS do not collect information on Technology Enabled Care which is fully funded by people themselves. Further information on the types of Technology Enabled Care support packages can be found on the PHS Website.
Not all local authorities were able to provide data on Technology Enabled Care services and estimates are included within the trend analysis. Further information on data completeness and estimation are provided in the dashboards.
In order to develop these statistics and due to the changes in the collection and processing, the figures in this release are classified as ‘Official Statistics in development’. Further information on the data collection is available on the PHS website.

Further information

The next release of this publication will be January 2026.

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Older versions of this publication

Versions of this publication released before 16 March 2020 may be found on the Data and Intelligence, Health Protection Scotland or Improving Health websites.