Tunstall Healthcare supports council’s at-home care technology service network transition
Sefton Careline, the at-home care technology service from Sefton Council, is transitioning to a Software as a Service (SaaS) platform to ensure the people the service supports remain protected during the UK’s communications network’s transition from analogue to Internet Protocol (IP).
The team, which is supported by experts at Tunstall Healthcare, works with older and vulnerable people across the borough to provide monitoring and response services, providing reassurance 24-hours-a-day.
Alongside Careline systems enabling users to get help at the touch of a button using a wearable pendant, the technology system in their homes can also incorporate sensors that will automatically alert an operator at the monitoring centre if an event such as a fall, fire or carbon monoxide leak is detected.
These solutions aim to help local citizens to remain independent at home. They also offer a package of care for Sefton residents who have been discharged from hospital, which offers a robust aftercare process including daily care visits at home in the first few weeks.
Sefton Careline’s transition to Tunstall Healthcare’s PNC IP SaaS, Tunstall’s IP-enabled real time call handling solution to manage and respond to alarms that are triggered by a service user or a device, means the service is now ready for the UK’s move to digital.
Carissa Turner, Delivery Manager at Tunstall Healthcare, added: “The movement to SaaS is an important one, as we continue to ready ourselves for the culmination of the transition from analogue to IP digital.
“It’s been a pleasure to work with Sefton Careline on updating its platform from PNC6 to the new SaaS platform and we’re thrilled to see this making a difference already.
“We hope to continue the relationship into the future and we will continue to work closely with the team as part of our day-to-day support.”
It also avoids the time and costs associated with sourcing, maintaining and managing hardware infrastructure, provides robust business continuity, and means Careline is always operating on the latest version of software. Operators can now work from home, enabling the service to become more agile if needed. Workflow guidance also enables quicker response times for an improved user experience.
Jo Alty, Sefton Careline Manager, says: “The team here is in regular contact with Tunstall and they are a huge support for us.
“Making this change has made the service much more flexible and it is easier for both our team and the people we care for to use it. Working directly with our technology provider has allowed us to make this transition smoothly, benefiting everyone involved with our Careline service.”
The Frimley Health and Care Integrated Care System (ICS), which covers East Berkshire, Surrey Heath, Farnham and North East Hampshire, recently rolled out a successful approach to remote at-home monitoring using population health analytics to help both 4,000 high-risk patients and 800 care home residents.
