This report outlines the results of the Dementia and Aged Care Services (DACS) trial providing enhanced models of care through smarter, safer homes to support older people living independently. The trial was an unblinded, randomised control trial for people 65 years and over who were receiving community based aged care services. The control group received usual care only while the intervention group received the smart home technology in addition to their usual care.

The evaluation aimed to validate the smarter safer home technology to support older community members living independently at home. To do this the primary outcome measure used was the social care-related quality of life. Secondary outcome measures included: health-related quality of life; functional independence; depression levels; health service utilisation; changes in service design, adoption and aged care service provider experiences; user experience among study participants; and care giver burden.

The overall finding was that for older adults with Home Care Packages, the smarter safer home intervention benefited their social care related quality of life, although there were no benefits observed against the secondary outcomes. However, the intervention did contribute to the intervention group staying independently in their own homes for longer.