Half of Scottish local authorities have plans for assistive tech telecare
The Digital Office for Scottish Local Government has released the findings of FarrPoint’s National Telecare Landscape Review.
Covering 32 local authorities across the country, the analysis was commission by the Scottish Government, COSLA, and Digital Office. This offers a greater insight into the regional telecare offering by also incorporating data from housing services.
Collected through questionnaires sent to service providers and in-depth interviews conducted between July and December 2023, the work found a total of 141,918 service users in Scotland during that period. This is split between 121,985 local authority, health and social care callers, and 19,933 housing users.
When asked about the future, staff expect this to increase by around 10% over the next three years, with more than half of firms responsible for delivery confirming plans to use assistive technology to handle the increase.
The study has published a series of recommendations, including increasing data-driven services, use cases and best practice, amassing information on quantifiable benefits from telecare, and increasing the awareness that such services are available. Advancing the uses of consumer smart technology within care offerings should also be a priority.
The report follows a ‘landmark agreement’ between the UK Government and telecoms industry aimed at improving safeguards in the transition of elderly and disabled people who rely in lifesaving alarms from old analogue to digital phone lines. The Digital Voice Switchover, which is part of the UK’s wider efforts to modernise its ageing communications infrastructure, has previously fallen under fire for migrating customers who did not have the necessary technology or equipment to use digital systems.
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