Council selects telecare provider to help migrate to digital tech

South Lanarkshire Council has recently awarded Careium its telecare equipment contract, as part of a project to migrate its community alarm clients to a digital telecare solution.

2025 will see BT turn off its analogue network for good, as the UK embraces a fully digital network. The transition is already well underway, and, as soon as next year, BT will stop selling analogue lines.

Many existing community alarms may not work once users are transferred to a digital telephone line without an upgrade to the alarm equipment. Digital telecare offers more reliable, secure, and cost-efficient telecare solutions.

In order to comply with this digital technology transition, the council required the purchase of digital alarm units for installation in service users’ homes, which was set to be carried out in a phased approach. It has approximately seven thousand community alarms in use, so the project represented a significant financial and implementation investment by the council.

A key component to South Lanarkshire Council successfully transitioning from the current analogue system to a digital telecare solution was the technology installed in service users’ homes. It needed to be able to provide a reliable and effective connection to the community alarm service.

Careium won the contract by being able to demonstrate the efficacy of its in-home telecare equipment and provide assurance and confidence that it could effectively deliver across the council’s geographically diverse area. Equipment was required to have dual analogue and digital functionality where remote switching between the two formats could be delivered at a later date.

It also needed to use SCAIP (Social Care Alarm Internet Protocol) and for the devices to be compatible and interoperable with all UK digital alarm receiving centre (ARC) technologies.

Jill O’Boyle, Technology Enabled Care Service Manager for the South Lanarkshire Health and Social Care Partnership, said: “We have built a strong working relationship and effective partnership with Careium and have found them to be very responsive and supportive as we move forward with our digital telecare transformation programme.”

Furthermore, South Lanarkshire Council was impressed by the functionality, ease of use, and cost savings of the Careium cloud-based device management platform, i-Care online, which offers 24/7 status checks and remote programming options.

Soumen Sengupta, Director of Health and Social Care for South Lanarkshire, added: “Embracing the benefits of digital technology for the benefit of local communities is a priority for South Lanarkshire Council.

“Care services and the teams that deliver them continue to be faced with significant challenges – and the effective deployment of appropriate digital solutions is a crucial element in our meeting those challenges and the very real needs of the people we serve.”

South Lanarkshire Council will initially purchase 6,500 devices from Careium, which have been successfully tested. The equipment will be rolled out over the next 18 months, at 300 alarms rising to 400 alarms per month.

The first 3,000 social alarms are Careium CareIPs, a hybrid solution with both analogue and digital communication available via GSM (mobile) connectivity. This allows for digital-ready installations to start now in good time for the switchover while the council investigates digital platform options. It is intended to adopt the digital-only Eliza S, which has 4G in addition to 2G and 3G for the remaining 3,500 units when the digital platform is available.

Paul Goodrich, Careium Country Director, concluded: “We are extremely proud to be working with the council supporting them every step of the way, using all our experience, knowledge and pioneering innovation.

“They were committed to finding a digital solution which ensures continuity of service and protects service users from risk and harm. Careium, as the market-leading technology-enabled care company, can ensure they achieve this positive and seamless transition.”