The UK Space Agency has called for public sector bodies to adopt the Care View ‘loneliness app’ to support people experiencing social isolation during the Covid-19 lockdown.
It said the satellite enabled smartphone app can be used by staff including police officers and postal workers, along with volunteers, to identify people who may be suffering problems from the loneliness enforced during the pandemic.
Care View was developed in 2015 by the public health team at Leeds City Council and Urban Sustainable Development Lab, with funding from the European Space Agency’s Research in Telecommunications Systems programme.
It was deployed by Leeds the following year and has since by piloted by public health and adult social care teams at Bury and Wakefield Councils, with other users including police community support officers and fire and rescue services.