Alarm handling software and digital home hub set to help providers ahead of digital switchover
Health and care technology firm Tunstall Healthcare has unveiled two new products to support health, housing, and social care providers through the digital transition and ensure that users continue to receive vital telecare services.
Set to complete in 2025, the digital transition involves a move from fixed line analogue telephone to digital (IP) fibre network.
It means that any services that use analogue lines to handle telecare alarm calls will no longer work beyond 2025. These services need to move to digital lines. Find out more about what the digital switchover means for telecare services in this article.
Tunstall Healthcare’s PNC IP and Lifeline Digital IP dispersed telecare alarm unit have been launched ahead of the phased digital transition across the UK.
The new IP-enabled solutions will support a range of organisations in the ongoing delivery of services to vulnerable people across the UK. These include social care and housing providers, alarm receiving centres, and TEC providers, particularly as the solutions support open protocols and could operate with equipment from other technology providers.
PNC IP is a new generation of Tunstall Healthcare’s secure and accredited Alarm Handling software, enabled with IP Protocols. The solution will improve the effectiveness and efficiency of monitoring centres, with rapid alarm handling, call allocation, clear workflows, recording, and reporting.
It has been built around the needs of diverse users and provides wrap-around 24-hour support. The software can handle digital (IP) and analogue calls as the UK telephony infrastructure migrates, providing service continuity.
Gavin Bashar, Managing Director at Tunstall Healthcare UK&I, commented: “We’ve listened to the needs of our customers and the market as a whole and our new solutions offer providers a robust digital-first solution that they can harness.
“While the digital transition has been ongoing, we’ve been deploying our end-to-end process which includes meticulous research and development, manufacturing, and testing processes to ensure that any product or solution we deliver to market is ready to go, reliable and safe to use.”
Lifeline Digital, a new digital home hub, has been designed to support the Tunstall Healthcare ecosystem and CENELEC SCAIP, the industry standard protocol. The hub is flexible and future-proofed, providing a breadth of connectivity options, including WiFi, Android, and iOS.
It supports existing peripheral devices and can connect up to 64 telecare sensors. An updated speaker design presents great sound quality, full duplex speech, and echo cancellation, alongside a simple three-button operation and LED brightness that is customisable.
Gavin continued: “Our new Lifeline Digital Unit and PNC IP are the first of many innovations. Over time you’ll see us deliver increased service flexibility and feature enhancements as we continue on our digital journey. We want to make the transition as seamless for our customers and as safe as possible for citizens across the UK who use health, social care and housing services, and our new products have been designed to do just that.”
The telecare solutions were launched at the TEC Services Association’s International Technology Enabled Care Conference (ITEC).