Findings – The work concluded that battery management was of vital importance, and that the use of geo-fencing for alarm purposes was often limited by the minimum practical size of the fence and by the way that it could be established.
Originality/value – It is recommended that service providers employ a range of GPS devices within their inventories, so that they are not limited to one or two different devices when prescribing telecare services to people who are at risk of wandering, especially at night. The variation in cost between the most expensive and the cheapest can be justified in terms of service support and other options. These devices are most likely to be of benefit when used within a telecare service that can offer 24-hour monitoring and links to a dedicated emergency response team.