Agenda item

Telecare Monitoring Service

 Report by Sue Redmond, Corporate Director.

Minutes:

Cllr John Thomson, Cabinet Member for Adult Care, Communities and Housing, presented a report which sought approval to close the Careconnect operation and TUPE transfer the Careconnect staff to the new provider of telecare call monitoring, Wiltshire Medical Services (WMS). Approval was also sought to transfer the remaining out of hours services that were not related to telecare to the Council’s interim telephony provider until a strategic solution could be procured in 2012.

 

WMS would provide Telecare (assistive technology) which included a wide range of electronic equipment that could fulfil a wide range of functions. In the event of a customer triggering an alert, WMS would be able to offer either a health or social care response. Cllr Thomson explained the many benefits of Telecare which included increasing the safety and confidence of customers enabling them to live independently in their own homes for as long as possible; delaying longterm admission to hospital or care home facility and reducing the cost of care without reducing the quality of care. 

 

Andrew Bailey and Andrew Scott from Tunstall Telecom, manufacturers of the Telecare lifeline service gave a demonstration of the electronic equipment and what would happen in the event of an alert being triggered.

 

Cllr Thomson acknowledged the excellent service provided by Careconnect and emphasised that the proposal to now award the contract to WMS bore no reflection on the performance of Careconnect. However, Careconnect did not have sufficient staff or the correct equipment to support the significant expansion envisaged in telecare provision under the Help to Live at Home strategy which would integrate health and social care.

 

Resolved:   

 

a)           To decommission Careconnect and transfer the telecare monitoring service to another provider.

 

b)           To transfer the non-social care out-of-hours call handling services provided by Careconnect to the Council’s existing out of hours telephony provider in an interim basis.

 

c)            To commission Wiltshire Medical Services to provide telecare monitoring for current Careconnect customers and future telecare customers in Wiltshire.

 

d)           Further to a decision by Cabinet in July 2011 to commence a consultation process, which has now concluded, to transfer Careconnect staff under T.U.P.E. to Wiltshire Medical Services (or implement redundancies if relevant).

 

e)            To commission the Council’s interim telephony provider to take over the non-social care out of hours services on an interim basis pending the completion of the Council’s review of telephony services that is being undertaken currently. (This service is already being provided for the Council for various aspect of the Council’s business).  The Corporate Procurement Unit to seek exemption from competition for the interim.

 

f)             To recognise the excellent work undertaken by Careconnect over the years in supporting people and to extend thanks to existing and past staff for their contributions.

 

Reason for decisions

 

Careconnect does not have sufficient staff or the correct equipment to support the significant expansion envisaged in telecare provision under the Help to Live at Home strategy.

 

For the past 18 months the Council has been piloting a telecare response service utilising Wiltshire Medical Services, which has the expertise and experience to provide these services and to grow with demand in the future  It also will be able to link the social care and health out of hours response services for the benefit of customers. The remaining minority out of hours services that Careconnect also provide do not represent a viable business in their own right and therefore also need to be transferred elsewhere.

 

Supporting documents: