'Telecare is the continuous, automatic and remote monitoring of real time emergencies and lifestyle changes over time in order to manage the risks associated with independent living.'

While this definition is concerned with  monitoring social and lifestyle events, in recent times is has been also been used in the context of delivering remote health care.

The devices that are monitored by Telecare solutions can be anything from a domestic panic button that raises an alarm in a response centre to those that send information about a person’s environment (e.g. office temperature, smoke detection) or their well-being in order to ensure that a desired state is maintained, or, when that is not the case, that an appropriate alarm or response is generated.

TeleCare systems can be grouped into three types:

1. Systems that try to predict problems - systems take in information from sensors (e.g. a rapid motion sensor that is used to identify a fall) and analyse trends to identify adverse changes (e.g. a person falling more frequently than usual) which would prompt an alert to an appropriate agency.
    
2. Systems that mitigate risk – systems that prevent people needing to take actions that may put them at some kind of risk/injury (e.g. a motion detector placed in an old persons room that turns the lights on/off as required can prevent injury from someone stumbling to turn on lights in the dark).
    
3. Systems that mitigate harm and damage – systems that send alerts once an unwanted event has occurred in order that help may be provided to prevent/limit harm or damage. Such systems include smoke detectors, pressure mats and panic buttons  and they send alerts to an appropriate centre so that help can arrive quickly.

TeleCare and TeleHealth systems can use wired/fixed phone line communications and or wireless technologies such as mobile phones as the basis for sending information to a relevant centre. When using mobile phone/3G/4G communications, these systems are also referred to as mCare and mHealth systems.

(Based on information from an excellent site: www.telecareaware.com)