A smart home platform specifically designed for dementia
People living with dementia experience frequent, often avoidable health crises that often lead to emergency hospital admissions. Symptoms are easy to miss at home, leaving care largely reactive: problems are spotted only once they have become serious. This is distressing for people living with dementia and their families, and costly for the NHS. The impact falls hardest on the most vulnerable, including people who are physically frail, living alone, or supported by carers under strain, as well as those on lower incomes or living in rural and coastal areas who may have less access to existing digital health tools.
A diagram of the MinderCare service and the Minder Platform that has been developed within the UK DRI Care Research & Technology centre.
Minder
Minder is a technology platform that provides a continuous digital safety net in the home. Small sensors, such as a sleep mat, door sensor, or movement sensor, quietly monitor daily routines, sleep, and basic physiology without requiring the person to press a button or change their habits. Algorithms developed and refined over many years of research at the UK Dementia Research Institute analyse this information daily to spot early warning signs. These include the first hints of an infection, changes in sleep patterns, or unsafe night-time walking, often identified days or weeks before a crisis would otherwise come to light. 
Illustrations of some of the sensors used with the Minder system, including movement sensors, door sensors, digital scales and an under-mattress sleep sensor.
MinderCare
MinderCare is the NHS clinical service built around the Minder system. When an early warning occurs, a monitoring team reviews the data and acts quickly by phone, helping to navigate and access care before a hospital admission is needed. MinderCare already operates as an NHS-approved service in North West London, connected directly into NHS electronic patient records.
From the outset, we have evaluated MinderCare with people facing significant frailty, people living alone, and communities at risk of digital exclusion. This creates a service shaped around frontline care needs rather than technical literacy.
Illustration of a nurse using the Minder dashboard to look at data from a home in the Minder study.
The NHS Fit for the Future Dementia Challenge
We have been awarded funding to grow the Minder technology platform and MinderCare service as part of the NHS Fit for the Future Dementia Challenge. With this funding we aim to build the robust, national-scale evidence needed for the NHS to invest in MinderCare with confidence. Working with the Dementia Challenge, we plan to deepen our integration with London’s Integrated Neighbourhood Teams and expand evaluation beyond North West London into new NHS regions, including South East suburban and coastal locations as well as North West rural and dispersed communities, comparing patient outcomes against standard care.
Success means measurably more time spent safely at home, fewer avoidable emergency attendances, and fewer days spent in hospital through reliable early detection that triggers timely clinical action before problems escalate. This will be demonstrated across varied settings and packaged into a cost-effective, practical model ready for widespread NHS adoption.
How do people benefit from Minder
People living with dementia: stay safe, well, and independent at home for longer, with health issues spotted early rather than during an emergency.
Carers and families: gain greater reassurance, peace of mind, and clear information to help guide difficult choices about changing care needs.      
NHS and clinicians: fewer avoidable hospital admissions and emergency attendances, and increased focus on the patients most at risk.
Dementia researchers: the Minder system allows researcher to collect data on new interventions to see if they have a real impact of the health and well-being of people affected by dementia. Minder allows us to test new devices, new algorithms, and the effects of medications and other therapies. The Minder system already supports more than 10 distinct studies.
Wider society: helping contain national care costs using digital healthcare that works equitably for the people who need it most.
Our partners and funders
MinderCare has been delivered in partnership with ³Ô¹ÏºÚÁÏ College Healthcare NHS Trust, with funding from LifeArc and support from ³Ô¹ÏºÚÁÏ NIHR Biomedical Research Council.
The Minder platform has been developed within the UK DRI Care Research & Technology Centre, with principal funding from the Medical Research Council, and through partnership with Surrey and Borders Partnership NHS Trust.