OnePerspective: Analogue telecare is a dead horse: stop flogging it

June 13, 2018 | by | 3 Comments

Editor’s Note: ‘OnePerspective’ articles are written by industry contributors on issues of importance to our Readers. They reflect the opinions of their authors and are archived under ‘Perspectives’.

[grow_thumb image=”https://telecareaware.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/06/Tom-Morton-CEO.jpg” thumb_width=”150″ /]By: Tom Morton

Call failures to alarm receiving centres in the UK are rising but the reasons for this are currently the subject of hot debate.

The problem is linked to the roll out of the next generation network (NGN) replacing the UK’s analogue Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN), a task which will be complete by 2025.

What is not debatable is that 1.7m of the most vulnerable in our society are being placed at risk as calls to alarm receiving centres (ARCs) increasingly fail or are delayed in their delivery due to incompatibilities of existing technologies.

At the Telecare Services Association (TSA) conference in November 2017, technology-enabled care services company Appello, with circa 100k telecare system users, identified a 7.5 percent call failure rate and announced the problem as “deeply worrying”.

At the same event, Communicare247 presented a report which highlighted a significant 12.3 percent spike in call failures identified by Falkirk Council. This was part of an ongoing analogue to digital assessment program operating across 12 percent of the existing Scottish telecare user base, and significantly this spike occurred in Falkirk within a short three month period. Both Falkirk Council and Appello have published their evidence of increasing call failures in a TSA whitepaper.

The TSA white paper, A Digital Future For Technology Enabled Care, highlights that the 1.7million people in the UK reliant on telecare need answers as their service is “threatened by disruption as UK telecommunications shift from analogue to digital”.

Yet the link to call failures and the rollout of NGN has been called into question by a major equipment provider. In a recent blog, they asked a very challenging question: Are network issues causing a greater number of alarm call failures?

Their answer delivered by the blog was, in essence, ‘maybe not yet’.

In a comparison between one ARC, where call failures were high versus another where they were low, the blog claimed that “while the use of NGN networks has grown in the last few years this cannot account for the increasing trend”.

As a potential compromise, the author also said that they could overcome any potential issues through the use of hybrid terminal adaptors (ATAs).

However, evidence both in the UK and Sweden plainly demonstrates call failures increase as the network switches to digital. (more…)

Tender Alert: Scotland Excel, Leeds, London/Manchester, Thurrock

June 21, 2017 | by

Our Eye on Tenders, Susanne Woodman of BRE, has a new batch for your telehealth business consideration. (Thank you, Susanne!)

  • Scotland Excel: A Prior Information Notice (PIN) for suppliers of “digital dispersed alarm units that communicate information digitally between alarm unit and alarm centre”. They are invited to note interest to Scotland Excel and to demonstrate what digital equipment they can currently offer, including any relevant peripherals, such as alarm triggers. The estimated date for the contract notice is February 2018. More information on Public Contracts Scotland.
  • Leeds City Council: A £400k contract for telecare equipment is on offer for North East, Yorkshire and The Humber. This includes alarm units, fall detection, pendants, multiple sensors, and more. It is a 12 month framework with approval obtained to re-procure for the following two subsequent years, expiring 31st March 2020. Submit by 17 July. More information on Gov.UK.
  • General Medical Council, North West (Manchester) and London: An unusual tender for research comparing UK health regulators to counterparts in overseas countries (i.e. Canada, US, Australia, New Zealand or European member states). This covers the regulation of doctors, other healthcare providers (e.g. pharmacists) and healthcare services. Submit by 17 July. More information on Gov.UK.
  • Thurrock Council: This is for community alarm telecare monitoring and administration platforms, with all associated hardware required. Value stated is £100k – £500k, and contract ends 31 July 2021. Submit by 17 July. More information on Gov.UK.