Telecare Aware

Tower Hamlets drops telecare charges (UK)

Steve Hards — Tue, 05 Aug 2008 00:05:54 +0000

Thumbs up for Tower Hamlets council! Read story here.

CSIP’s July Telecare Newsletter published

Steve Hards — Tue, 05 Aug 2008 00:04:38 +0000

Apparently only in Word format this month, July’s CSIP Telecare Newsletter looks forward, as we all do, to September’s publication of the CSCI performance figures for 2008 and a major report on the Preventative Technology Grant which “brings together information from 2006 through to 2008″. It also flags up the changes to the CSIP Networks telecare programme which will become part of Independent Living Choices and Care Closer to Home. The CSIP Telecare Newsletter will continue but it will not be duplicating Whole System Demonstrators Action Network (WSDAN) materials.

As you skim through the long section of links to other materials, don’t miss the extract from the House of Lords questions on 21 July which begins on page 7 (or 8, depending on how your Word displays) where Baroness Greengross asks the Minister Baroness Thornton to explain why it has taken quite so long to implement the whole system demonstrators and how the Government intends to ensure that their targets are met. [What? You expect a real answer?]

Telecare Newsletters index.

Tynetec performance 2007-08 (UK)

Steve Hards — Tue, 05 Aug 2008 00:03:56 +0000

North of England-based Tynetec [a Telecare Aware sponsor] has announced another year of spectacular growth. The pattern established in the previous financial year, when turnover grew by more than 25%, has been matched in the year to June 2008. Details in this press release.

Tynetec’s telehealth package

London Telecare Group poster (UK)

Steve Hards — Tue, 05 Aug 2008 00:02:42 +0000

The London Telecare Group (of councils) has commissioned the poster below from the JCA Design agency. Thanks to generous support from the Adshel and ClearChannel agencies which manage advertising in London’s bus shelters, 409 posters are currently getting the message out to the general public. Lewisham Linkline will initially be handling all enquiries on behalf of the other councils.

Verify & Locate (UK)

Steve Hards — Tue, 05 Aug 2008 00:01:49 +0000

The attention of lone workers, care home managers and end users is being drawn to the advantages of the GSM and GPS person location systems from UK-based company Verify & Locate. Instead of the user being restricted to home he or she can go where they like, “safe in the knowledge that their whereabouts could be located by their loved ones or professionals in a central control centre.”

Verify & Locate makes full use of current web technologies on its site to get its message across. For examples, (see the demos here) and take a look at the ‘cool’ way it presents its product brochure.

It’s come a long way since its launch, reported in Telecare Aware two years ago.

Where is Mary Grobe? (US)

Steve Hards — Mon, 04 Aug 2008 23:58:02 +0000

Distressed family seeks answers as to why their mother was given a panic alarm system, apparently inappropriately. Website.

Consider in the light of the Verify & Locate story above.

Steve Hards — Mon, 04 Aug 2008 23:54:16 +0000

FREE ALERTS SERVICE KEEPS YOU UP TO DATE ON DEVELOPMENTS

Video: Lord Darzi backs remote patient monitoring

Steve Hards — Tue, 29 Jul 2008 08:58:23 +0000

UK Government Health Minister Lord Darzi (who recently produced High quality care for all on the future shape of the NHS -comment with link to the report) is shown in this video endorsing the move towards remote patient monitoring, using a heart patient and a person with COPD as examples.

4mins 46 seconds video features services at Southampton and Nottingham.

<a href="http://youtube.com/watch?v=XCjES7AstqE">http://youtube.com/watch?v=XCjES7AstqE</a>

Video: Guardian Alert 911

Steve Hards — Tue, 29 Jul 2008 08:57:36 +0000

The US-based Guardian Alert 911 takes the panic alarm principle and cuts out the call centre, connecting owners directly to the emergency services. Taking this approach there’s an immediate saving for users as there are no monthly fees.

View this 7 minute Guardian Alert 911 video on the company’s website.

LogicMark homepage.

Video: The house that thinks

Steve Hards — Tue, 29 Jul 2008 08:56:55 +0000

BBC News report from West Bromwich, UK, on an ordinary Victorian house that has been converted to accommodate almost every electronically controlled device you can think of, linked to a system that responds to the owner’s movements. This does deserve to be called a ’smart home’ unlike those that are just ‘telecare enabled’. (See Soapbox item: Telecare ‘Smart Homes’ Nowhere Near Smart Enough.)

Watch the 1½ minute ‘iHouse’ video here. Sharp-eyed viewers may spot Telemedcare’s equipment in one scene.