A service which helps vulnerable and elderly people in Swindon to live independently has been given a top national award.
Swindon Borough Council’s Homeline community alarm service has been recognised for the services it provides by scooping a Telecare Services Association (TSA) Crystal Award. The service was rated the best in the country in the ‘Real Benefits for Service Users and Patients’ category.
Last year Homeline helped 1,500 people who had fallen in their own homes and saw Emergency Response Officers sent out 2,800 times.
The service is available to anyone living in the borough of Swindon and operates 365 days a year, 24 hours a day. Each Homeline service user is issued with a Homeline unit and a pendant. Service users are automatically connected to a control room operator by simply touching the pendant.
The control room will then immediately contact a friend, relative or one of the Homeline Response Officers who will attend the service user’s property and deal with the call for assistance.
If a service user cannot speak, then the Control Room operator will assume it is an emergency and send an Emergency Response Officer to the property urgently.
The TSA Crystal Awards 2011 recognise the very best in telecare and telehealth. A panel of up to nine TSA and invited professionals decided which services should be awarded the prestigious Crystal Awards and judges looked for best practices and those services that they consider provide outstanding performance and demonstrate a best practice model.
Cllr Russell Holland, Swindon Borough Council’s Cabinet Member for One Swindon, Communities and Housing, said: “I am delighted the Homeline team is being held up as a shining example in the Telecare field because they do a fantastic job for elderly and vulnerable people in Swindon.
“On some occasions they act as extra emergency service and their quick thinking and professionalism recently saved one client’s life. This award is richly deserved.”
Jack Sharp, the council’s Principal Homeline & Telecare Officer, said: “I am really pleased that Homeline team have been recognised with this most prestigious national award.
“The award reflects the dedication, enthusiasm and professionalism displayed by a team who are entirely customer focussed in delivering an emergency response service 24 hours a day.”