Telecare Service

Hi Sam

It could be worth investigating whether your local Council can help. Or a nearby one. We are in Oxfordshire but use a council monitoring centre in Northampton. They also have a department that provides telecare equipment and Councils are likely to be cheaper as they are not profit drive, plus you know they’ll always be in business! They have provided services for two Almshouses I’ve worked at, despite one of them being ‘out of area’.

Another thought, my father, who lives alone and is very active, uses a YourStride watch. They look like a normal watch but connect to a monitoring centre who can speak to you through the watch. You can just tap the watch if you want help. It has a GPS tracker, is a fall detector and they are brilliant for active people who are out and about alone. For my dad, who goes birdwatching a lot, it means if he falls over in the middle of a field he can call for help or the fall detector will activate, the monitoring centre can speak to him and then call one of his contacts or send emergency services directly to his location using the GPS tracker. Cost of a YourStride, when we bought it about 2 years ago – was £70.00 one off purchase fee and £20.00 a month monitoring.

There are other brands that have come onto the market since we bought my dad’s. Personally, I think these sort of devices will gradually replace Telecare equipment. Just my opinion.

Sam
Warden

Hi Sam
We are in the process of upgrading from analogue to digital system. We use Warwick District Council:
Sophie Meade,Lifeline Services, Landlord Services, Housing Services, Warwick District Council, own Hall, Parade, Royal Leamington Spa CV32 4AT
Mobile: 07718 575762 Tel: 0300 3035573 e-mail: Sophie.Meade@warwickdc.gov.uk

The full upgrade is to GMS – enabled digital telecare units, including new smoke detectors compatible with the digital lifelines.
We are using the Careium’s Eliza S units which comprises a base unit and a wearable pendant Our units which are used round the homes (unit and pendant) use GSM. They have a roaming sim which picks up on the strongest signal in the area. They can in theory be used anywhere in the country as long as there is a good signal in the area, but they aren’t useable as a wearable device outside of the property.

It is costed at approximately £11,000 for 46 flats and is being implemented one Almshouse at a time. We expect that the £11,000 investment will pay for itself within two years through savings from discontinuing unused landlines and transitioning to VOIP, which offers a monthly saving of over £674.
We have already installed free WiFi in all of our flats partly funded by an Awards for All grant

There are numerous telecare providers offering their services, so make sure you choose what’s best for your scheme. If you are satisfied with your current provider, see what they have to offer. Not only are you then familiar with the contact centre, but they will also have existing knowledge of your residents, rather than providing a completely new data base. Look for ease of installation, and simplicity of use for the resident. We also found it was beneficial to have a unit which was similar in design to the old one (albeit quite a bit smaller) This gave our more cautious residents confidence that they could use it.
For small almshouses / housing providers who are also charities it is worth approaching the Awards For All scheme for help with the cost of moving to installing free Wi-fi for residents.

Our approach is very simplistic and could be replicated by others.The biggest hurdle was the fear of the Scheme Managers in installing the units, having been used to quite a complicated install with the old units! We now find that we can replace on average three every half hour, and we are followed by our Handyman who replaces the smoke detectors at the same time. Because we are doing this in advance of digital switchover, we have the luxury of taking our time, catering for those residents who may not be available on a specific day, and completing one of our larger schemes before we move to the next.

William Clemmey
Chiefofficer@municipal-charities.org.uk