A guide for families
Fall monitoring for an older parent, explained simply.
If someone you love lives alone and you're worried about a fall, the choices can be confusing. This is a plain-English walk through your options, what radar monitoring actually does, and the funding that might help, written for families, not for engineers.
Why falls are the thing families worry about most
For an older person living independently, a fall is the event that most often ends that independence. The danger is rarely the fall alone. It's the time spent on the floor afterwards, unable to get up or reach a phone, before anyone realises. That gap is what keeps adult children awake, especially when they live interstate or can't drop in every day.
The aim of in-home monitoring is simple: shrink that gap from hours to minutes. Not to wrap someone in cotton wool, and not to move them somewhere they don't want to be, but to make sure that if something happens, the right people know quickly.
The three ways to monitor for falls
There are really only three approaches on the market. Each has a fair use, and each has a catch worth understanding before you spend.
1. Worn alarms: pendants and watches
A button or fall-sensing watch the person wears, often linked to a call centre. Australian services like MePACS, Tunstall and VitalCALL work this way. They can suit an active, switched-on person who'll wear it consistently. The catch is human: pendants get taken off in the shower (where many falls happen), left on the bedside table, or run flat. And after a heavy fall, or with memory changes, no one reaches for a button. The protection only exists when the device is worn and charged.
2. Cameras
Indoor cameras with fall-detection software can see what happens in a room. The catch here is almost always the older person themselves: most flatly refuse to be filmed in their own home, and worry, reasonably, about who can see the footage. A system that gets switched off, or never agreed to, protects no one.
3. Radar (mmWave) sensors
A small radar sensor mounted on the wall or ceiling senses movement and the signature of a fall, without any camera and without anything worn. Because it's passive and always on, it covers the bathroom and the night, the moments worn alarms tend to be off. And because it produces no images, it's the approach most older people will actually accept. For someone with dementia who'll never use a button, it's often the only thing that works.
What radar monitoring does, and what it honestly doesn't
It helps to be clear-eyed. Here's a fair description of what a radar system like the one Alien IT Solutions installs can and can't do.
What it does: it's designed to detect a fall and unusual stillness and send an alert automatically to the family phones you nominate. It can also give a gentle, pattern-level wellbeing view, up at the usual time, moving about the kitchen, settled in the evening, so a quieter-than-normal day prompts a check-in rather than a fright.
What it doesn't do: it is not a medical device. It doesn't diagnose, treat or prevent anything, and it won't catch every single event, no fall system will. Unless you arrange a monitored response separately, alerts go to family, not to a 24/7 call centre that dispatches an ambulance. Think of it as a strong extra layer of safety that respects dignity, not a guarantee. Any vendor who promises to "never miss a fall" is overselling.
Funding: Support at Home and the NDIS
This is where many families get stuck, so here's the lay of the land. None of this is a promise of funding, eligibility always depends on an assessment, but it's worth knowing the pathways before you pay out of pocket.
Support at Home (for people 65 and over)
The Support at Home program began on 1 November 2025, replacing Home Care Packages and the Short-Term Restorative Care Programme, with the Commonwealth Home Support Programme transitioning by 2027. In-home personal and safety alerts are funded under it as low-cost assistive technology, for people 65 and over, or 50 and over for First Nations Australians. The Assistive Technology and Home Modifications stream assesses assistive technology across three tiers (up to $500, up to $2,000, and up to $15,000), plus an equipment loan scheme. Assessment is arranged through My Aged Care, and co-contributions may apply depending on your means.
NDIS (Assistive Technology, for people under 65)
For people on the NDIS, a fall or safety sensor may fit under Assistive Technology, in the "assistive products for personal care and safety" category. The test is whether it's "reasonable and necessary" for the participant. Lower-cost items (under the low-cost AT threshold of $1,500) can sometimes be accessed without a formal AT assessment, and a self or plan managed participant can arrange the install without the provider being NDIS registered. An AT assessor or advisor can guide what's claimable.
Other pathways
DVA support may apply for eligible veterans, and the Commonwealth Home Support Programme still applies to people not yet transitioned to Support at Home. If none of these fit, private pay is straightforward and there is no waitlist. We can help you work out which door to knock on.
A note on us: Alien IT Solutions is not NDIS registered, and we don't decide your funding. What we can do is help you check eligibility and provide the quotes and documentation you'll need to take to your planner, assessor or My Aged Care.
How to choose: a short checklist
If you're weighing up options, these are the questions worth asking any provider.
- Will the person actually accept it? The best system is the one that gets a yes. Dignity and privacy usually decide this.
- Is there a camera? If privacy matters (it almost always does), a no-camera radar approach removes the biggest objection.
- Does it need to be worn or charged? Anything worn relies on memory and habit. Passive, always-on monitoring doesn't.
- Who gets the alert, and who responds? Be clear whether alerts go to family or to a paid monitored service, and decide who's on call.
- Is someone local installing and supporting it? A real person who fits it, tests it and answers the phone beats a drop-shipped gadget.
- What does it honestly cost, and is there lock-in? Ask for the install cost, any monthly plan, and the contract terms up front.
- Could it be funded? Ask whether the provider will help you check Support at Home or the NDIS and prepare documentation.
Common questions
What is in-home fall monitoring?
A fixed sensor in the home that's designed to detect a fall or unusual inactivity and send an alert, without the person needing to wear or press anything. Radar-based systems do this with no camera.
Is it covered by NDIS or Support at Home?
It may be claimable under NDIS Assistive Technology or the Support at Home assistive technology tiers, depending on an assessment of reasonable and necessary need. Eligibility isn't guaranteed, but a provider or assessor can help you check.
Is a radar fall sensor a medical device?
No. It's positioned as a safety and wellbeing aid, not a medical device. It doesn't diagnose, treat or prevent any condition, and no fall system detects every event.
Is this the same as Check on Mum?
Yes, in substance. Check on Mum is our sister site that explains the same service in warm, everyday language, handy for the older person who'll be living with it. Both are run by Alien IT Solutions.
Not sure where to start? Just ask.
Tell us about the home and what's worrying you. We'll talk it through honestly and help you check if it's funded.
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