Telecare and YOU
Telecare’s popularity has continued to grow over the last few years as people have started to realise its full potential in enabling older people to live independently in their own homes for longer.
However, as we know, telecare isn’t just a powerful tool for helping with the challenges of an ageing population, it also offers the potential to help people with a wide range of needs to live fuller, more independent lives.
It was with this thought in mind, that Mike Chambers, Assistant Director Health and Wellbeing at YOU, approached Hampshire County Council to propose funding an exciting new telecare service for people with a learning disability across the county.
“YOU already provides care and support services for people with learning disabilities throughout Hampshire, Portsmouth and Dorset but have never used telecare extensively before. Having seen how much it can benefit older people, I was sure it would be just as beneficial to the people we support,” said Mike Chambers.
It was not all plain sailing though. When he first approached Hampshire County Council, they agreed it was a great opportunity and suggested ideas to secure additional funding to support Hampshire’s contribution. So Mike did just that, securing two year’s funding from IESE (Improvement and Efficiency South East) for 280 telecare packages, Mike also visited a key supplier to talk about what equipment they could provide for YOU’s client group. This is very much seen as a collaboration between all stakeholders and is viewed as an opportunity to tailor existing products to an upcoming market.
As well as providing telecare equipment, YOU will also be providing a 24 hour response service. This is unique as, for the first time, it will be run by staff professionally trained in supporting people with learning disabilities.
The project is due to go live in March 2010 and there is every confidence it will begin to record the same successes as seen with older people.
Lorraine Pink, Personalisation Project Manager at YOU says, “people with learning disabilities are now living longer and are being looked after by increasingly older carers. Telecare is a way of providing people with opportunities to increase their life skills and ultimately their independence. The focus at YOU is very much about empowering people to make informed choices about the way they want to live their lives and telecare is a perfect fit for this”.For the full article in The Link, click here.
For more information about YOU's telecare service, click here.
