By offering free telecare packages to people above the age 85, Hillingdon Council is creating awareness about the importance of telecare services and ensuring safe living to the elderly individuals. These are directly installed at their homes and deliver effective home based support. TeleCareLine service of the council has been able to install 1400 services in the past two years. Among the installation, 400 were self-referrals from Hillingdon households. Residents in borough who qualify a certain requirements, receives similar telecare packages for the first six weeks for free. These residents will undergo a financial assessment.
In the next four years, the council hopes to expand its offerings by covering an additional 3,000 people. The level of support offered by them range from standard service package to high-end packages. The qualifying residents receive excellent safety support through personal alarm, a pendant, bogus-call alarm and a smoke detector as standard. Depending on the individual needs of the households, extra sensors are made available. When a sensor automatically detects an alarm or the individual intentionally uses the alarm, a central monitoring centre, which operates 24hours, is contacted.
Corporate Director for Social Care, Health & Housing, Linda Sanders said that this technology can help the elderly population and ensure safe living. Hillingdon Council in west London has come forward to offering the free service for everyone aged 85 and above. By offering a safe environment at home, elders can do without residential or nursing care. This would help the council save money.
