Portsmouth Telecare model

In 2006, Portsmouth City Council (PCC) commissioned the Centre for Healthcare Modelling and Informatics at the University of Portsmouth to evaluate PCC's introduction of telecare over 3 years. PCC addressed telecare using the Preventative Technologies Grant, provided by the Department of Health. Prior to the telecare project there was a widely implemented community alarms service (CAS) in the city. Modern wireless technology offers a similar service but without the user having to activate the call. This is of benefit in particular areas, such as falls, where the person who has fallen may not be able to summon help. There are now a wide range of sensors that can be added to the basic infrastructure of the community alarm service that can create a comprehensive telecare service. The project’s aim was to investigate the possibility of setting up the technology and the processes required to support the implementation of telecare. Once telecare has been prescribed as part of a care package, the technology is installed and connected to the existing call centre. Finally there needed to be a response service within the city to attend to the person who has activated the alarm.