It sounds like a fantasy straight from The Truman Show: a house that monitors your every move, from bedside to bathroom and from medicine cabinet to fridge. The aim, however, is to help the elderly to lead safe and independent lives.

Researchers are working on a “health house” so sophisticated that it will not only track everyday habits but also check weight and blood pressure and predict whether a person is at risk of a serious fall.

Britain is one of the largest investors in “telemedicine” — using medical technology to help chronically ill and older people to be treated for longer at home rather than in hospitals or care homes.

The system, developed by GE Healthcare and Intel, uses sensors that track a person’s behaviour and send alerts when unexpected disruptions or data are picked up. Similar networks are already being used by about 3,000 people in care-home settings but researchers now hope to introduce a much more sophisticated model for private homes.

Patient data, such as risks of hypertension, diabetes and respiratory problems, would be combined with information on daily routines to create an algorithm capable of identifying subtle health changes that might signal more serious problems.

Examples might include how many times a person opens the fridge door or uses a tap: repeat trips to the fridge could signal mental impairment while failure to use the tap might suggest an increased risk of dehydration.

The next generation of sensors also studies activity such as use of the lavatory, time spent sleeping and when medicine is taken, plus vital signs such as blood pressure, weight and blood-oxygen levels.

Work is under way on more advanced alerts that could identify changes to a person’s gait — providing an early signal of instability and heightened chances of a serious fall — and how long it takes to get out of bed in the morning.

Agnes Berzsenyi, GE’s general manager for home health, said that a team based in Budapest was developing the algorithms with the hope of getting the system up and running within the next few years.

A trial linked to the University of Szeged in southern Hungary is planned soon. Tests are also being carried out at a Chicago care home run by Ecumen, an American housing provider, and software trials are being conducted in Britain as part of a £150 million telemedicine deal between GE and Intel.

“It is about the individual and how we can empower a person to age at home and stay well,” Ms Berzsenyi said. The system was expected to cost a similar amount to cable television, involving an initial installation fee and then monthly subscriptions, she added.

Cost savings from being able to predict falls are likely to be substantial. Falls are a major cause of disability and the leading cause of mortality resulting from injury in people aged over 75. About 14,000 people die annually as a result of an osteoporotic hip fracture.

Falls account for 20 per cent of hospital admissions in people aged over 60, two million bed days a year and 40 per cent of admissions to long-term care — costing the NHS about £1.7 billion annually.

Frank Miskelly, of the British Geriatrics Society, said that technologies that improved the quality of life experienced by older people and maximised their independence were to be welcomed. “There are 4.7 million people over 75 living in the UK and this figure will continue to rise,” he said.

According to research by the NHS Confederation, the cost of helping frail older people to cope with the daily routines of living in their own homes is expected to treble to about £30 billion by 2026.

Explore Health

• Expert Advice

• Health Features

• Mental Health

• Alternative Medicine

• Child Health

• Health Club