Council receives award for its analogue to digital telecare service transition

Inverclyde Health and Social Care Partnership (HSCP) has been awarded the Gold Level Two Digital Telecare Implementation Award by the Digital Telecare for Scottish Local Government in recognition of the recent progress of its analogue to digital telecare transition project.

Inverclyde Health and Social Care Partnership is a formal organisation at Inverclyde Council that brings together community health services and social work services.

To achieve the Gold Level Two Implementation Award, a telecare service provider must have successfully rolled out a live digital telecare service to 50 percent of service users and is operating successfully without serious issues or call failures for at least six weeks.

Inverclyde Health and Social Care Partnership works with Bield Response 24, its Alarm Receiving Centre, to provide a telecare service. This assistive technology service goes to 1,791 people in the council’s community, and it has successfully transitioned from analogue to digital across 1,148 homes.

Alan Cowan, the vice-chair of the Inverclyde Integration Joint Board (IJB) – the organisation that oversees local health and social care functions delegated to it by the council/health board and delivered by the HSCP, said: “Telecare is a vital service for older adults and vulnerable people living in the community so that they can easily call for help. This is a fantastic achievement and congratulations to everyone involved in continuing the smooth transition from analogue to digital.”

Inverclyde Health and Social Care Partnership says the award is a “significant milestone” and demonstrates the overall functionality and effectiveness of its digital telecare solution.

Norfolk County Council recently became the first council to commission a long-term virtual care service in the UK.