Telecare is a growing area in housing provision, with more funding being made available for housing providers to install new technologies in the support of communities.

Moira pointed out that traditionally, housing providers are nervous when the term ‘care’ is applied to the housing field as they feel this is not in their remit. However, the fact remains the line between housing and care has blurred over the past ten years requiring housing providers to become more pro active in the use of new technologies.

The demographics of the Scottish population make for stark reading. The population aged 75 and over will increase by 75% by 2031. Currently 91% of persons aged 65 and over live in their own homes. This will require care providers to consider a new customer group of owner occupiers.

The National Telecare Programme was launched in 2006 with an emphasis on preventative care rather than reactive treatment. With the aim of reducing the number of care home admissions, hospital admissions and carer visits.

Moira described the replacing of first generation cord pull alarms with video and broadband technology. This will reduce the number of home visits required.

Liz described the experience from her work with service users, who have differing specific needs, in Aberdeenshire. She highlighted the positive effect it had on service users and their carers. She has found that of 13 cases 9 showed a reduction in alerts due to the effectiveness of the technology and the increased confidence of the service users.

Sandra illustrated the telecare situation in North Lanarkshire where 11,000 people use the community alarm system and 200 use additional technologies. On of these is the use of mobile phone technology to provide a less intrusive form of care.