Tunstall‘s win of the Hanover Housing Association for their alarm call and door entry framework is highly significant beyond the initial installation of the Communicall Vi warden call system and Lifeline Vi dispersed alarm system (PERS). Hanover’s size makes this a major win for Tunstall. Their rationale is understandable: to rapidly replace current telecare equipment in eventually up to 17,000 properties, to build out for the future across a large portfolio and to work with Tunstall to offer a range of present and future integrated technologies including those represented by Tunstall’s ‘Lifetime of Care’ program. No mention here of Tunstall’s ‘my world’ premiered at last month’s Housing LIN Conference [TTA 21 Feb], but undoubtedly this will eventually be included. But here again is the Tunstall system; there’s no mention of partnership with other technology providers to provide innovation and ‘best in class’ service for Hanover residents. As this Editor asked at the end of the February article, ‘But is a closed system the best quality, most economic and effective arrangement for individual, a community’s or a council’s needs?’ Tunstall release

Editor’s Note: For non-UK readers to grasp the size of Hanover Housing, it has 600 estates with 19,000 properties and 22,000 residents, making it comparable in number of locations to Brookdale Senior Living in the US but far more dispersed. Brookdale concentrates its 52,000 residents in larger, mainly assisted living buildings (AL). Hanover focuses on retirement housing across England and Wales, a focus on what in the US we call IL (independent living), including the interesting notion of ‘downsizer homes’. They also have 2,500 ‘Extra Care’ properties with 24-hour care. It is also a not-for-profit, which perhaps makes it more comparable to Ecumen.