through providing local (in-house) alerts in a person's home to let the carer know when a person requires attention. It is important to note that 'telecare' is not just a warning system if someone strays from home but is also preventative measure whereby people are brought back and kept in the community through regular communication. There are now a large range of telecare services available with some of the most well known being the pendant alarm, mobile carephone system, pill dispenser, telephone prompt service the movement monitoring, fall detector and more. Multi-lingual telecare services have now been introduced opening the service up to a wider audience. All play a role in maintaining people's independence and allowing people to stay in their own homes. The future of Telecare Technological advances result in the possibility of promoting independence and for providing care from the social initiative sector, which now contemplates eCare, and navigation/positioning systems, such as GPS for people with dementia or other cognitive impairments. Telecare in the UK In 2005 the UK's Department of Health published Building Telecare in England to coincide with the announcement of a grant to help encourage its take up by local councils with social care responsibilities. The UK’s Department of Health’s Whole System Demonstrator (WSD) launched in May 2008. It is the largest randomised control trial of telehealth and telecare in the world, involving 6191 patients and 238 GP practices across three sites, Newham, Kent and Cornwall. The trials were evaluated by: City University London, University of Oxford, University of Manchester, Nuffield Trust, Imperial College London and London School of Economics. The WSD headline findings after the telehealth trial, involving 3154 patients, included these outcomes: 45% reduction in mortality rates 20% reduction in emergency admissions 15% reduction in A&E visits 14% reduction in elective admissions 14% reduction in bed days 8% reduction in tariff costs The telecare findings were supposed to be published at some point in the future. In fact they have never surfaced. Some patients are still hopeful that telecare will lead to substantial improvements in the quality of services. The research showed that the telecare approach was not cost effective, with an incremental cost per QALY when added to usual care of £92,000. The Government's Care Services minister, Paul Burstow, stated in 2012 that telehealth and telecare would be extended over the next five years (2012-2017) to reach three million people. This ambition