Lancashire County Council has proposed changing its free telecare service to a new charge of £4 to £9 per week for users so that it can afford to pay the increasing costs of running the service.

According to the local authority, it is the only council in the North West that does not charge any residents for telecare and mobile response services. The average charge for this service in other local authorities is £5.51 a week.

To ascertain people’s views on the proposed telecare service charge, Lancashire County Council launched a public consultation for people to share feedback. Carers, people who work in social care, telecare service users, and the public were invited to have their say.

The consultation was bought to an early close yesterday (8 August 2022).

Officers are now set to review the responses received before considering a further consultation.

County Councillor Graham Gooch, Cabinet Member for Adult Social Care, said: “I would like to thank everyone who has taken the time to give their views following the launch of this current consultation.

“The responses indicate that it would be useful to review our questions to ensure the consultation is as meaningful as possible. For that reason, we have decided to bring the current consultation to an early close, with a view to launching a further consultation in the coming weeks.

“We are facing increasing running costs as the number of people using telecare has grown and expect further increases due to the telephone service digital switchover.

“We are also aware of other similar technology, which people can use for free or at a lower cost. We have been keen to learn from what other authorities are doing and have researched similar schemes before putting forward these proposals.”

Lancashire County Council’s telecare service, delivered by Progress Lifeline, helps people who may need support to live safely and independently at home.

Service users will be contacted with the details of any further consultation shortly.

Recently, NHS Education for Scotland announced a new e-learning module for health and social care professionals that is designed to increase the awareness, knowledge, and confidence of the workforce to better understand the role of telecare in assessment and support planning.

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