Council telecare service recieves TEC Quality accreditation for compliance to national framework
TEC Quality has awarded ‘compliant’ status across the board of Dudley Council’s telecare service.
The Telecare service provides a range of assistive technology products, including alarm systems that connect to an emergency response centre where operators provide any assistance needed.
A whole range of issues can be flagged up through such devices as pull cords, GPS trackers, fall detectors, bed/chair occupancy sensors, independent alarms and pendant triggers.
The service was recently assessed by TEC Quality, an independent organisation, which assesses technology-based services against a national framework, on behalf of the TEC Services Association (TSA).
Customers can be alerted to immediate dangers such as smoke, flood or fire. Help can be summoned immediately when needed, while 24hour monitoring of devices such as fall detectors and passive infrared detectors monitoring movement and inactivity can pick up when help is needed. This gives customers and their families huge peace of mind that help will be on its way when needed.
The team helps more than 8,500 people live independently within their own home.
Over the past 12 months, the Dudley Council telecare service team handled incoming and outgoing calls totalling 245,447 equating to 15,500 every month, and says 97.98 per cent of calls were answered within 60 seconds and 99.72 per cent within 180 seconds.
The review found that 99% of service users are very satisfied/satisfied with their installation experience.
The team provides 24/7 care 365 days a year, with staff and managers on overnight shifts in addition to the falls response service.
Last year, the Urgent Care Response (UCR) service was developed and went live at the end of December 2022, the team attended 36 joint visits with clinicians by the end of January. On average, the team says it completes 72 ‘lifts’ a month.
The teams also work closely with the fire service with 993 safe and well checks referred to West Midlands Fire Service. An average of 826 smoke alarm calls are handled each month, with 82 referrals each month.
Councillor Matt Rogers, Cabinet Member for Adult Social Care said: “I’m really proud of the team for this achievement. They always have to be poised to deal with any emergency with understanding, calmness and professionalism and this review shows how well they do that.
“The Telecare service is an absolute lifeline for some of our older residents. It allows them to live independently for as long as possible, and gives them, and their families the peace of mind of knowing that help is just one phone call, or one automatic response away.
“Although we might use a lot of high-tech equipment as part of the service, it’s the people at the end of the phoneline who make it what it is, a caring, efficient and quality service.”
The telecare service is available to everyone living in the Dudley Borough. The team provides a combined offer of installation, monitoring and response services.
The Southampton City Telecare team also recently obtained accreditation with the TSA having successfully demonstrated compliance against standards such as customer experience, safety, continuous improvement and innovation.