Community alarm services

Hourcare 24 provides a 'round-the-clock' lifeline to the outside world at your fingertips.

By simply pressing a button on the unit installed in your home or on a pendant worn around your neck, you are instantly in touch with the staff at our Control Centre who are available 24 hours a day. They will be able to respond to your problem either by:

• Contacting a friend or relative whose details you have given us
• Sending one of our Mobile Officers to assist you
• If necessary, alerting one of the emergency services.

The service is available to older people, people with a disability and other people who may need the service.

We can arrange to demonstrate the alarm service in your home without obligation. For further information contact us using through Customer Services.

The Community Alarm and Telecare Service can improve safety and help people to stay independent and healthy in their own home for longer by providing continuous and automatic monitoring of your lifestyle changes.

We are aware of a scam being circulated in some areas which may be targeting telecare service users transitioning to digital telecare.

This scam is false phone calls to telecare services users asking them to pay for a new alarm as their current system is obsolete. Given the vulnerability of telecare service users, there is a high risk that they may provide bank details to the scammer. We suggest that you liaise with telecare service users and make them aware of this current scam.

Local Prevention Teams can provide a good source of support to your telecare service users, but if your staff are making calls to service users you may wish to consider including a conversation about nuisance calls.

The following information may be helpful:

• People can sign up to the Telephone Preference Service for FREE either online or by calling 0345 070 0707
• Many home phone providers offer services (some of which are free) to block unwanted calls e.g. BT Call Protect , Talk Talk's Call Safe
• Unwanted calls can be blocked using built-in call blocking features on home or mobile phones
• There is a range of standalone devices that can be used to block/ monitor calls
• For more information on potential solutions check out Which’s article on How to block nuisance calls.

When advising telecare service users about any call blocking options, it is important to ensure that they know to include their telecare service numbers in their “trusted”/ “safe” numbers.

A Community Alarm is an electrical device in the form of an alarm box which is linked to the home telephone. In an emergency you can push the button, which when activated, can summon help.

Telecare is the use of remote sensors which are linked to the Community Alarm unit. While a Community Alarm unit relies on the service user pressing the pendant to request help, the Telecare Sensors can independently detect an emergency and provide an automatic alert to the Emergency Response Centre. Telecare sensors monitor people at risk in their own homes, improving their safety and helping them to remain independent and healthy for longer.

Further information is available by downloading the Telecare Community Alarm Leaflet in the document links section attached.