Inverclyde HSCP Digital Telecare team receive platinum award
The Digital Office for Scottish Local Government are delighted to confirm that Inverclyde Health and Social Care Partnership (HSCP) have been awarded the Platinum Digital Telecare Implementation Award in recognition of the recent completion of their analogue to digital telecare transition project.
To achieve Platinum, a Telecare Service Provider must have successfully rolled out a live digital telcare service to 100% of service users and operate it successfully without serious issues or call failures for at least 8 weeks.
Inverclyde HSCP works with partners Bield Response 24 (BR24), their Alarm Receiving Centre, to provide their telecare service to the residents of Inverclyde. This service goes to 2,076 people in the community, and they have successfully transitioned from analogue to digital across the entire estate.
The transition from analogue to digital alarm units was undertaken to modernise the alarm systems, improve reliability, and enhance functionality. The project involved upgrading existing analogue alarm units to digital systems, ensuring seamless integration with current infrastructure, and training staff to manage and operate the new systems effectively.
Inverclyde HSCP have embraced this journey from initial test stage to complete full digitisation of their Community Alarm estate. Already awarded with Silver Accreditation in 2021 and Gold Level 2 in 2023, Inverclyde HSCP have now been awarded Platinum Accreditation from the Digital Office for Scottish Local Government Implementation Award Scheme.
David Gould, Chair of the Inverclyde Integrated Joint Board (IJB), said:
“This is a fantastic milestone and one which everyone working in the digital telecare team should be very proud of.
"Telecare is a vital service for older adults and vulnerable people in our community so that they can easily call for help.
"Not only have all service users successfully moved over to digital telecare, there have been no serious issues or call failures for more than two months which shows it is working.
"Congratulations to all involved in this award.”
As a Telecare Service Provider, support from the Digital Office has been perpetual through the migration from the current analogue Public Switched Telephone Network (PTSN) to digital telephony in advance of the PSTN switch off in 2025.
Next Steps for Inverclyde HSCP:
- Integrate with Shared ARC Platform via Bield/BR24 ARC.
- Continue to explore new technologies
- Provide continuous and essential upskilling to with the latest digital technologies and best practices
- Establish a robust monitoring and evaluation framework to track the performance of the digital systems and identify areas for further improvement
- Develop a robust business continuity plan
These steps will help improve the benefits of the digital transformation and ensure long-term success and sustainability.
The Digital Office for Scottish Local Government offers our sincere congratulations to the team at Inverclyde HSCP and anticipate further collaboration as they utilise digital telecare to drive service enhancement and innovation.