Can anyone recommend unobtrusive fall/activity monitors?

[notanotherfootballmatch]

My father is elderly and living alone. He's in good health apart from his walking which is pretty wobbly now. We want to get him either an alarm for if he falls and can't get up, including out in the garden.
He definitely wouldn't want anything intrusive like cameras but I think there are also monitors which check activity like going into rooms. Has anyone got experience of these, pros and cons?

Would he wear an Apple Watch? I think they have fall detection, and SOS calling. There’s all the health app integration too.

Though they do need charging a lot, from my limited experience

Good idea but I'm not sure if it would work without an iphone. He has an android tablet but no smartphone.

if they have fallen but are within shouting distance of an Alexa or smart speaker, you can set them up so they make voice activated calls to mobile numbers and I think you could probably call 999 on them too.

I'd just go with a pendant alarm or a camera pointed at a kitchen door so it's not tracking him/obstructive

Look at Your Stride watches.

They are fall alarm systems and they work anywhere there’s mobile signal. They don’t need a base unit in the home (useless if you fall when in the garden), if you fall you can talk to the contact centre via the watch unit itself, and it’s also got tracking so the call handler will know where you are.

Both our DMs have them.

You can also log in and see where the watch last was if you can’t get hold of DF. I get a text if DM’s watch hasn’t registered steps by 10am, too.

Highly recommended.

As a pp said, a traditional pendant alarm should suffice.

I agree with the Your Stride recommendation above. My mum has Parkinson’s and they were incredibly helpful setting her watch up so her tremors didn’t set it off accidentally. I think she pays a little extra for the fall detection option. It doesn’t need charging anywhere near as often as an Apple Watch and you don’t need an iPhone either.

We also looked at a pendant for her but because she has a pacemaker she can’t have one.

I’m prone to face-planting due to the double whammy syncope (fainting) and arthritic joints. I regain consciousness rapidly but can need assistance afterwards.

Our family’s solution was to put Siri (voice activation app) on my iPhone, and for me to actually carry my phone around with me, in a case on a cord (like spectacles on a chain round one’s neck).

I got in the habit quite quickly.

The equivalent for your dad on Android would be Google Assistant, but he’d have to carry the device round within him.

Pendant alarms can have a falls detector function. It alerts the monitoring service directly of it detects the person dropping suddenly as they would in a fall. Worn around the knock or on the wrist so very unobtrusive.
You can also get sensor mats for beds and chairs that can send an alert through if the person hasn’t returned to the bed / seat within a predetermined length of time.
If you call your local adult social care team they can advise you how to make a referral. Or look in your local council’s website.

Thanks - will have a look at your stride.
It does need to be something like a watch because I can guarantee that he'd find a pendant annoying and leave it somewhere.
We've got Alexa's set up but I think he turns them off fully when not using.

The alert pendants that you get also now come in watch/bracelet style as well. They alert to a fall, and also alert to a lack of movement as well.

DH’s aunty has one through the local council and it’s about £4 a month

We used Canary motion sensors for late mil a few years ago. You get motion sensors around the house and you are alerted via an app if your relative doesn't move around as expected (you set the expected movement patterns). There are,also door sensors if someone might wander outside.
We were alerted when Mil had a stroke and was sitting on the living room floor. She also had a local authority fall pendant it was the Canary that warned us. I think the company has changed hands/expanded since we were using them, but they were very friendly and helpful.

Good luck. Hope you find something to help.

Check with your local council as they may offer one: my parents have wrist devices or button on a chain round the neck, they connect to a box where a team xan access what’s needed. It’s via the council and I can not fault it and it’s been used a lot!!

Have you looked at acticheck? Watch like and settings you can vary for fall detection, can also tap if they need help.

Mum had a Taking Care Pendant but they also have wrist alarms. There are various options you can choose from including falls detection and ones that work away from the house.

Taking Care Personal Alarms | Care Alarms for the Elderly

My mum has a pendant alarm for free from the local Council (though the care service it links to is actually run by the next Borough). She’s seldom home alone these days but always complains if she has to wear it. In all the years she’s had it, she’s only actually pressed it once (the day she finally accepted that trying to stand on a kitchen chair in your 90s isn’t a good idea). Whether worn round the neck or as a pendant, care alarms aren’t enough if they don’t have fall detection though (I don’t think mum’s does) because an awkward fall can put the alarm out of reach. That happened to a friend’s mum a couple of times: alarm on wrist but couldn’t reach it with the other hand to press the button when she fell and was on the floor for a few hours before her carer came.

It’s good to know that newer alarms have fall detection though. Apple Watch fall detection is great (I know this from falling downstairs myself!) but needs an iPhone. The Your Stride watch sounds ideal though.

That's my experience too - all the elderly people I know leave them hanging somewhere near the bed - meant my grandma wasn't found for hours when she fell.

I agree that the Your Stride one looks good - not too expensive and can work pretty much anywhere. And is a watch so useful. The local council are so slow with requests I'm inclined to ignore them.