Telecare

The Department of Health is giving local authorities a Preventative Technology Grant, to help them develop Telecare services for older people in the community.
 
Telecare is technology that enables the continuous, automatic and remote monitoring of real time emergencies, as well as lifestyle changes over time, in order to manage the risks associated with independent living. It offers choice and flexibility of service provision, from familiar Community Alarm Services that provide an emergency response, to sensors that monitor and support daily living, through to more sophisticated solutions capable of monitoring vital signs and enabling people with long-term health conditions to remain at home.
 
Telecare offers the following benefits:

• Increases choice and independence for users
• Reduces the burden on carers and provides them with more personal freedom
• Contributes to care and support for people with long-term conditions
• Reduces accidents and falls in the home
• Reduces acute hospital admissions
• Supports hospital discharge and community-based rehabilitation
• Reduces the need for residential/nursing home care
• Enables those who wish to die at home to do so with dignity

Telecare sensors will relay an alert to the call centre in the event of a fall or other untoward incident. The alert may be generated either by the user or automatically by the sensors. An agreed response will then be put into effect, enabling a prompt resolution of the emergency.
 
Since 2006, the Department of Health has given local authorities a Preventative Technology Grant, to help them pilot and develop Telecare services for people in the community. Following evaluation of the pilot phase, we are in the process of developing the service to be able to offer Telecare to a wider group of users and respond to more diverse risk situations, and for Telecare to become a mainstream service option.
 
For more information, or to arrange a presentation, please contact:
 
Rosanne Brown
Telecare Co-ordinator
Health Improvement and Development Service
Portsmouth City Council
Floor 1, Core 6, Civic Offices
Guildhall Square
Portsmouth
PO1 2AZ
Tel: 023 9268 8394
E-mail: rosanne.brown@portsmouth.cc.gov.uk