Sensor-activated Alarm Systems in HDB Studio Apartments for Elderly

15 Ms Sun Xueling asked the Minister for National Development (a) whether the Ministry will consider piloting the installation of sensor-activated alarm systems in HDB studio apartments for the elderly or in new HDB flats catered for the elderly; and (b) what will be the estimated cost increase for such installations.

The Second Minister for National Development (Mr Desmond Lee) (for the Minister for National Development): Mr Speaker, the Housing and Development Board (HDB) has been working with partner agencies and solution providers to explore the use of suitable elderly monitoring and alert systems to monitor the safety and well-being of elderly HDB residents. For instance, a trial is ongoing at Yuhua involving residents who have purchased the Elderly Monitoring System (EMS), a smart system that automatically sends notifications and alerts to the next-of-kin of the elderly when irregular behavioural patterns are detected at home. Other options include wearable devices with panic buttons.

HDB will study the outcome of this trial as well as the cost and business models for installation of such system before deciding on the next steps.

Mr Speaker: Ms Sun Xueling.

Ms Sun Xueling (Pasir Ris-Punggol): I understand that some Executive Condominium (EC) developers also have some of these products and suites available but the purchase by residents have been low. I think the cost is about $6,000 to $8,000 for such applications. It does not sound very expensive compared to the overall cost of the housing unit. So, would the Minister share if this phenomenon is due to it being an opt-in kind of a function or is it because residents are not educated and do not think that such a product is usable or friendly enough for use?

Mr Desmond Lee: Certainly, for the trial taking place at Yuhua, HDB has helped to subsidise the cost in order make the take-up for the trial more prevalent. But nevertheless, we find that not all residents, and certainly not all elderly residents, felt the need to subscribe to this. This, in part, relates to their personal choice and their own assessment of their personal mobility and caregiving needs. So, finding scale and getting economies of scale would be very helpful in making such a project in any estate a success.

Currently, HDB is looking at working closely with the Pioneer Generation Office, hospitals and the physiotherapists to identify seniors who would most greatly benefit from such an EMS system. Even after that, you need to talk to their families to get the sense of whether there is someone that the system can auto-dial to and alert, or whether their neighbours who would respond or there are service providers who are monitoring the system and to be able to respond.

So, cost is one. But these things can be worked out through various packages and, ultimately, it is awareness and it is about whether the seniors' caregiving arrangements and caregivers find value in having such a system as a protective factor for them.

Mr Speaker: Mr Leon Perera.

Mr Leon Perera (Non-Constituency Member): Just a supplementary question to the Minister. Has the Ministry considered this technology that is quite widespread, I believe, in Japan, which is attached to the hot water pot? It monitors the frequency at which an elderly resident consumes hot water. When they do not consume for a while, it sends a short message service (SMS) alert to their next-of-kin. Apparently, this is widely used in Japan, it is very economical. And is that being considered to be something that can be pushed out here?

Mr Desmond Lee: Mr Speaker, I thank the Member for his suggestion. There are a variety of systems out there in the market, as well as a whole suite of projects that technopreneurs and researchers are working on. Not only is HDB working on this, but we are also looking and working with vendors out there in the market to see what we can put together as an offering to residents and then they find, together with their family members, the most optimal device.

There are some which are attached to their wrists and they can then press if there is an issue. Some are attached to phones or part of a phone app and if it detects a sudden drop in height, it will send out an alert message. Other products we have seen involve motion sensors that would monitor movements within the flat and if there is no movement for a certain period of time, a few hours or so − of course, you must teach the machine when a person is or is not at home − it would then be able to alert people.

So, the whole suite of options, whether it is worn, pulled, motion detected or attached to a hot pot, it is the whole range that we are looking at.