Kath Deakin, our Head of Sustainable Communities leads MHA’s alarm upgrade programmes. Here she talks about the reason for the upgrade and what it entails.
The move to digital phone services
If you have a landline telephone, then your calls are currently using a system of cabling known as the Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN). This technology has its origins in the Victorian era but the way we now use it has changed enormously. The PSTN is therefore nearing the end of its life, is difficult and costly to maintain and needs to be replaced.
Communication providers, like BT and Virgin, have been getting in touch with their customers to tell them what they need to do to make sure they still have access to telephone services in the future and for most people this will mean moving to a new digital telephone system.
But the change will impact other services that rely on the old telephone network to operate, for example, burglar alarms and fire alarms that alert a monitoring centre using a phone line. For thousands of people across the UK this will have a profound affect as they currently use a ‘careline’ alarm or telecare that relies on being attached to a phone line and will not be compatible with the new digital telephone system.
A new generation of digital careline alarm
This is certainly the case for MHA’s existing hardwired careline alarm infrastructure that operates to provide reassurance to residents in our Community Living Schemes. Residents have been able to contact a 24 hr monitoring service by pressing a button or pulling a cord for the decades that the system has been in operation. Some of our systems are more than 30 years old and they have a high degree of integration with other systems eg: door entry/ access, fire panels, lifts and smoke detectors.
Over the past year we have been working with the residents in our Community Living Schemes to decide what should happen next with these systems. Surveys and conversations with residents have told MHA that the service is valued and they would like to keep it; but they were also clear that whatever is to replace the old system needs to be simple and affordable as well as take advantage of the opportunities that the new digital equipment can bring to provide a more responsive and preventative service, along with the reassurance they are used to.
With the help of a group of residents MHA drew up the requirements we had of the service and invited suppliers and service providers to bid for the work. With those residents we selected the bid that most reflected what we wanted to see in the future and are now ready to start installing the equipment so that our schemes are ready to embrace a new digital future.
Getting the best from the service
It’s not just about the equipment though. It’s about how residents and their carers and families can use it. The new equipment will mean less integration with other systems, and at some locations we will be able to provide residents with the benefit of video door entry that can be operated from their smartphone or telephone. With the roll out of the installation, MHA is also putting support in place to help residents understand their new devices and what is possible.
Once the new equipment is installed and in place, we will be able to redesign our careline alarm services to offer more tech-based digital support depending on what they need and want, from fall detectors and GPS devices to equipment and software that can create alerts to let families know when something has changed so that they can offer help before something goes wrong.
This is about enabling people to feel more confident at home and provide families and carers with new ways of supporting their loved ones to stay well and safe.
