TELECARE/ Alarm responding centre/ Analogue to Digital Switchover

Thank you for your email. The Data Protection Team will respond to you as
soon as possible.

Dear Ms Mughal

 

Thank you for contacting Great Places.

 

As a social housing landlord, Great Places is not a named public body
under Freedom of Information legislation. We try to be as transparent and
open as we can and consider requests on their own merit and within the
context of the resource we have available. On this occasion we are not
able to respond to your request due to resource constraints.

 

If you are a customer and have a specific query or concern I encourage you
to discuss this with us by emailing [email address] or we have a
number of other contact methods available which you can find on our
website https://www.greatplaces.org.uk/contact-us

 

Kind Regards

 

Ashley

 

Ashley Leighton

Data Protection Co-Ordinator

Great Places Housing Group

2a Derwent Avenue

Manchester

M21 7QP

 

 

From: Sheila Anne Mughal <[FOI #824841 email]>
Sent: 21 January 2022 14:46
To: Data Protection <[Great Places request email]>
Subject: Freedom of Information request - TELECARE/ Alarm responding
centre/ Analogue to Digital Switchover

 

Dear Great Places Housing Group,

I am writing to make an open government request for all the information to
which I am entitled under the Freedom of Information Act 2000. Could I
possibly suggest that you direct these questions towards one or some of
the following employees: - Assistive Technologies Manager/ Lead, Service
delivery manager, assisted living/housing association dept, Care Home
support, adult services, Service manager, Contact centre Manager – or
similar roles to those listed above.

If you share this request – please do so in HTML as then the text boxes
can be ticked

In order to assist with this survey, could you please answer the
following:

1a. Does your organisation presently provide a Telecare operations centre
(ARC) to monitor personal alarms (e.g., Falls alarms) for your local
vulnerable population &/or local authority?

☐

YES

☐

NO

☐

UNCERTAIN

1b. IF the answer is NO or UNCERTAIN - is this a service you may consider
offering in the future?

☐

YES

☐

NO

☐

UNCERTAIN

If the answer to 1a) & 1b) is NO or uncertain – this is the end of the FOI
request. Thank you for your response.

IF the answer to 1a) is YES please reply to all the questions below.

2a. Do you use an external provider or other government body or private
organisation for alarm responder/monitoring services? If so, can you
please detail: -

☐

NO -We provide this service ourselves -managed in-house

☐

YES – we use an external provider

2b. If an external provider is used, please give name of monitoring
centre/ provider with any contract start/end date & contact details if
known.

2c. If you provide this on behalf of other organisations, please list
these organisations &/or areas of the UK you cover?

3a. What type of devices are used in the community? If you can name device
supplier/manufacturer this would be appreciated.

☐

Mostly Analogue

☐

Mostly Digital

Types of devices: -

4. Do your analogue devices use any of the following protocols?

☐

BS7369

☐

TTOld

☐

BS8521

☐

Tyneter Reach units older 2014

☐

Tunstall devices using ST TT21 proprietary protocol

☐

TT92 open protocol

☐

GSM Tunstall units

☐

Other not listed

5a. Are you presently preparing for the digital switchover?

☐

YES

☐

NO

☐

UNCERTAIN

5b. If the answer is NO, have you any plans to move to a digital platform
and can you outline these?

☐

YES

☐

NO

☐

UNCERTAIN

Please feel free to add any additional comments regarding this process and
any concerns/ issues you may have about this process… if this is
applicable to your organisation.

Response -

6 Could you please indicate which software platform is used in the
monitoring centre you use?

☐

Not known

☐

Tunstall PNC

☐

UMO Enovation

☐

Jontek

☐

Bosh/Telealarm

☐

ArchAngel

☐

Chubb

☐

Appello

☐

Bold Communications

☐

Neat

☐

Azursoft

☐

ESI

☐

T21

☐

STT0DM8

☐

ENAI

☐

SELMA

☐

Other not named – please give details in text box below

7. As regards the above – do you know when the contract end date is &/or
when the software platform used will be under review?

Response -

8. Have you any concerns about your present service? Some possible common
concerns listed below, but please feel free to comment –

☐

Ability for call handlers to work remotely during this present lock &
maybe future down phase.

☐

The analogue to digital switch-over and how suppliers can play catch up &
do you see disruption/challenges in replacing older analogue devices?

☐

Safety of lone workers

☐

Service costs/ budget restrictions

☐

Security of email and chat when discussion client confidential data

☐

Infrastructure costs – considering move to hosted solution

☐

Restriction on choice of alarm devices which could be used

☐

Support and customer service concerns

☐

Alarm signals – failure rates

☐

Concerns re moving from platform supplier & reprogramming individual units

☐

Lack of responder app capability for remote workers

☐

Ease of use & training new starters

☐

Device management/ stock control

☐

Other issues/concerns not listed –

8a – any additional comments re the above possible concerns?

Response -

9. What tender framework/ portal does your organisation use for
procurement re Telecare devices/services and software?

Response -

10. Do you know (approximately) how many device connections you have?

11. Who is the main person(s)/ decision maker (s) or team – who would be
responsible for your Telecare monitoring centre &/or telecare services -
name/title/direct dial number/email?

Response -

12. Any other comments as deemed useful to this enquiry?

Response

THANK YOU -

If this request is too wide or unclear, I would be grateful if you could
contact me as I understand that under the Act, you are required to advise
and assist requesters. If any of this information is already in the public
domain, please can you direct me to it, with page references and URLs if
necessary. If the release of any of this information is prohibited on the
grounds of breach of confidence, I ask that you supply me with copies of
the confidentiality agreement and remind you that information should not
be treated as confidential if such an agreement has not been signed.

I understand that you are required to respond to my request within the 20
working days after you receive this letter, excluding public holidays. I
would be grateful if you could confirm in writing that you have received
this request.

I look forward to hearing from you.

SA Mughal

E-novation trading as Enovation

M 07714 248180 or 0044 7714248180

Yours faithfully,

Sheila Anne Mughal

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