Residents of Camphill Milton Keynes Communities love their RoboPets
Providing comfort and companionship with a robotic pet
RoboPets such as a robotic cat, dog or bird, use technology to respond to sound and touch, and interact through realistic movements. They provide a calming influence, give people greater independence and confidence, and improve mental health and wellbeing.
The robotic pets are ideal companions for the elderly, people living on their own, or anyone who is unable to have a pet of their own. By reducing loneliness and anxiety, a RoboPet can have a positive impact on wellbeing and quality of life and support people to live independently for longer.
The moment a resident at Mega Nursing and Care in Milton Keynes unboxed her new RoboPet
What our care services say:
“It’s great seeing how technology can impact the lives of our residents and this is quite a really nice, quite simple way that we can make their lives a bit better. It feels good to see them so happy.” – Tom Bridle, Care and Support Manager at Camphill Milton Keynes Communities
“RoboPets are a brilliant way to harness technology in a human-centred way offering comfort and emotional support, especially for those most at risk of loneliness. It’s great to be part of something making a real difference to people’s quality of life.” – Laila Adatia, Care Manager of Intrust Care Ltd
“I strongly recommend RoboPets for individuals with dementia, as there is an element of love and attention that sometimes gets lost in that diagnosis. It’s been lovely to bring back some emotions and behaviours that you haven’t seen for a while.” – Megan Cullen, Registered Manager of Elstow Lodge Residential Home
“The RoboPets have made a real difference. They’re more than just gadgets – they’ve become comforting companions and have significantly improved our clients’ quality of life.” – Sembia Johnson, Registered Manager, M&C Home Support
A local resident, holding her RoboPet dog.
“One of our residents grew up with cats and has spoken about missing them, so she was excited to receive a robotic cat. Named Simba, the cat has sparked this resident to share fond childhood memories and we’ve never seen her smile so much. It’s really heartwarming to see.” – Katy St Clair-Pierre, Deputy Manager, Hepworth House Residential Care Home
“This lady has dementia. Her husband has said the RoboPet has really helped them both as she doesn’t like it when he leaves the room. Since having the dog, he has been able to leave the room to prepare dinner etc and she has been very content patting and talking to the dog. They even take it out with them when they go shopping or for a coffee. It’s made them both so very happy.” – Sheri Brown, General and Registered Care Manager, Home Instead East Northants
Expressions of interest for RoboPets
Care home and domiciliary care providers across Bedfordshire, Luton and Milton Keynes who work with adults living with or experiencing challenging behaviour, cognitive impairment, communication difficulty or dementia are invited to express their interest in RoboPets. Expressions of interest (EOIs) are subject to certain inclusion criteria, and will be treated on a first come, first served basis. Find out more and express your interest in RoboPets.
About the Enhanced Wellbeing Through Digital programme
This programme has been made possible following BLMK’s Digitising Social Care team successfully securing £1.1 million of funding from NHS England’s Adult Social Care Technology Fund. It will be delivered in partnership with Health Innovation East and the University of Hertfordshire.
The rate of dementia diagnosis in BLMK is higher than the national average and the condition is associated with increased hospital stays, mental health issues, undiagnosed pain, behavioural challenges, and increased safeguarding risks. This programme will offer technology to support adults to live independently, reduce avoidable hospital admissions / re-admissions, and improve care quality and safety.
The funding will be used to implement two new innovations (PainChek and RoboPets) which can be used by care home and domiciliary care staff who work with adults living with or experiencing behaviour that challenges, cognitive impairment, communication difficulty or dementia in a variety of care settings. Read more about this funding.
A team of researchers (supported by the Applied Research Collaboration East of England and the Office of Health Economics) will evaluate the acceptability, usability, cost-effectiveness and impacts as the schemes are implemented and adopted – to inform the development of an evidence-based plan for scale and spread across BLMK ICS.
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