What it watches: falls, getting out of bed, and the doors
- Bedroom (bed sensor alarm): a ceiling radar sensor detects getting out of bed overnight, how long the person has been up, and falls. Live
- Bathroom (fall detection): the same radar detects falls and unusually long stays. Radar sees movement, not people, so there is no image to protect. Live
- Living areas and hallway: small wireless movement sensors build a picture of where the person is and how their days and nights are going.
- Every external door: door contacts, including roller and garage doors.
- Outside the exits: optional cameras that record continuously and detect which way a person is walking. Footage stays on a recorder in the home.
Wandering: leaving, not just a door opening
A door contact only says a door opened, which is why simple door alarms are switched off within a month. Southerly raises a probable exit alert from a sequence instead: movement inside towards the door, the door opening, a person moving away outside, and then no further movement inside. The alert arrives with a snapshot and a link to the clip, so the first decision is made from the picture. In development More on dementia wandering alerts →
Why not just a personal alarm?
Keep it. A personal alarm pendant is the right tool when the person can press it. The gap is everything else: a fall that knocks them out, a fall in the shower where the pendant is on the bedside table, or someone with dementia who doesn't know they should press anything. Southerly covers those moments, and can raise the alarm through the same monitoring centre the pendant already uses.
Alerts that reach someone
- On the phone in a pocket. Calls reach a carer, support worker or family member on their own phone with Respond — the same app wards use: most urgent first, one tap to acknowledge, loud or read aloud, on iPhone and Android.
- App notification, SMS, email or voice call, to as many people as the care plan names. SMS and email live
- Escalation: if the first person does not acknowledge, it moves to the next, and then to a personal-alarm monitoring centre if one is engaged. Live
- Day and night rules: getting up at 2 a.m. matters; getting up at 2 p.m. is just logged. In development
- Support-worker mode: workers check in and out; while they are there exit alerts are paused, falls are not, and every visit is time-stamped. In development
For the care team
A dashboard of activity by room and hour, night-time activity, door events, and every alert with how long it took to answer, exportable as PDF or CSV for clinical review. Family, support workers and clinicians each get their own login and see only what they need; video is limited to the people the care plan names. In development
Built to fail safe
The system has its own 4G connection, so it does not depend on the home's internet, and battery back-up for the gateway and network equipment. The sensors run on batteries. Low batteries, a sensor going quiet, a power failure, and the system itself going offline all raise alerts to the nominated contacts, the last one from our server, outside the home. The person being cared for never has to notice that something is wrong.
Honest limits
An aid to care, not a substitute for it
Sensors are tuned to each home in the first weeks, and visitors, pets and furniture all affect them. The system can tell that someone left; without a tag the person carries, it cannot prove it was them. It tells a person to go and check. It does not replace supervision, and no monitoring system detects every fall or every exit.
How a home is set up
- Brief and floor plan. The occupational therapist or case manager tells us the risks and the routine; we mark up the floor plan with each device and what it is for.
- Itemised proposal, written so it can go straight into a funding request.
- Installation in a day or two by an accredited partner, then a tuning visit two weeks later to remove the nuisance alerts.
- Monthly service covering 4G data, alerts, the dashboard, remote monitoring of the system and software updates.
Questions we get asked
Are there cameras inside the home?
No. Inside the home we use radar and movement sensors, which detect presence, movement and falls without capturing an image. Cameras, if used at all, go outside and point at the exits.
Can it tell the person leaving apart from a door opening?
It gets much closer than a door sensor alone. An exit alert needs a sequence: movement inside towards the door, the door opening, an outdoor camera seeing someone move away from the house, then no further movement inside. Arrivals run the other way. It cannot prove who left without a small tag the person carries, and we say so on every proposal.
Who gets the alerts?
Whoever the care plan says: family, support workers, a case manager, or a personal-alarm monitoring centre. Alerts go by app notification, SMS, email or a voice call, and escalate to the next person if the first does not acknowledge.
What happens if the power or internet fails?
The system has its own 4G connection and battery back-up, and the sensors run on batteries. If the home system stops checking in, our server notices and tells the nominated contacts, so the person never has to notice or report a fault themselves.
Will support workers set off alerts?
Not if they check in. A support worker checks in at the door or in the app; while they are there, exit alerts are paused or downgraded but fall alerts stay on, and every visit is time-stamped. If someone forgets to check out, monitoring resumes automatically.
How does fall detection for elderly people work without a wearable?
A small radar sensor on the ceiling watches the room for the movement pattern of a fall and for someone lying on the floor. Nothing is worn, nothing needs charging, and there is no button to press, so it still works if the person is unconscious, confused or has taken the pendant off.
Is this a bed sensor alarm?
Yes, without the mat. The same ceiling radar knows when someone is in bed, when they get up and how long they have been up, so a carer can be told when someone gets out of bed at night and does not come back. There is no pressure mat to trip over, slide or wear out.
Do we still need a personal alarm?
Usually, yes. A pendant is the fastest way for someone who can press it to call for help. Southerly covers the times they can't: an unwitnessed fall, a fall in the bathroom, or a person with dementia leaving the house at night. It can send its alerts to the same monitoring centre.
Can it be funded?
We provide an itemised quote and a written description of each device and what it is for, which is what occupational therapists and case managers usually need for an assistive-technology funding request. Whether a particular scheme funds it is the scheme's decision.