Survey reveals almost all councils using telecare

A new database from the Commission for Social Care Inspection rating adult social care in all 150 local authorities in England has shown that all but six councils are now investing in telecare.

CSCI inspected all 150 local authorities and released performance assessments on adult social care departments, including the use of telecare technology. The Care Services Improvement Partnership (CSIP) has taken the telecare information from all 150 councils, with results available online.

The document shows that 144 out of 150 councils have deployed telecare solutions in some form over the last year, with only six authorities showing no information on the deployment of the technology.

A statement from the DH said: “The CSCI Delivery and Improvement Statement will monitor the number of people benefiting from telecare since introduction of this grant. Councils should note well the contents of this circular.”

CSIP have been working on telecare since 2002 and were responsible for helping councils use their Preventative Technology Grant (PTG) in deploying telecare pilots across their regions.

The team worked with the Department of Health in creating the National Service Framework Agreement that ensures that councils do not have to go out to OJEC tender for telecare, but can instead go directly through one of the 15 chosen suppliers.

A CSIP spokesperson told E-Health Insider Primary Care: “The idea of the survey of telecare extracts is to enable staff in organisations to easily check and compare their telecare implementation arrangements.”

Local authorities can search the report to see what similar organisations are doing in their telecare programmes, such as work in preventing falls or providing patients with extra care. This will help them develop their plans to mainstream telecare from 2007/8 and beyond.

The survey also acts to remind councils of the latest PTG guidance from the DH which urges councils to make use of the £50m they will receive in 2007/8 and any of the £30m they have not spent from this financial year.

CSIP say that with the higher PTG allocation in 2007/8 together with carry over from year one, the commencement of the LTC demonstrator sites in June 2007, Supporting People, POPP (Partnership for older people projects), extra care sites, direct payments and self-care/self-purchase it is important that suppliers can meet the demands now and over the long run.

The CSIP survey concludes: "Local commissioning and procurement plans need to ensure that care managers, occupational therapists, community matrons, telecare technicians and others have the technology in place at the right time and in the right amounts to avoid disappointment.”

The DH added that they expect all the funding to have been spent by 2008 and are still considering whether or not trusts will be entitled to carry over funds into 2008/09 and confirmed that a joint commissioning framework including guidance on mainstreaming telecare, as reported by EHIPC last week, is in the process of being developed.