The UK Government has published a Telecare National Action Plan setting out the steps to safeguard telecare users during the digital phone switchover.
Minister for Care Stephen Kinnock announced the plan in Parliament, saying the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) has published the plan with the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology.
It comes as telecomms companies are planning to move away from the analogue Public Switched Telephone Networks (PTSN) to digital networks – an issue that has prompted anxieties about the implications for people receiving telecare support through analogue devices. There has been a series of warnings, including from the Local Government Association and a group of city-region mayors.
In November of last year, DSIT said it had reached agreement with a number of telcos on providing protection through the switchover for vulnerable people using alarms.
Kinnock said the actions in the new national plan - which supercedes the Telecare Stakeholder Action Plan from 2022 - are set against four outcomes:
- No telecare user will be migrated to digital landline services without the communication provider, the user, or the telecare service provider confirming that the user has a compatible and functioning telecare solution in place.
- Use of analogue telecare devices is phased out to ensure that only digital devices are being used. DHSC will be working with stakeholders over the coming months to set a deadline for this.
- Telecare users, their support networks and their service providers understand what actions they need to take to ensure a safe migration to digital phone lines.
- Stakeholders identified within the plan collaborate to safeguard telecare users through the digital phone switchover.
A series of actions are outlined to achieve each outcome.
The plan also describes opportunities created by the digital switchover. These include providing scope for new developments in technology enabled care, the ability to tap into wider developments in digital infrastructure, and enabling councils to trial and use new technologies to achieve the outcomes.
Kinnock added that the action plan is predominantly aimed at communication providers, local authorities, housing providers, third sector organisations and commercial providers.
Laying foundations
“The transition to digital telephone networks will lay the foundations for a next generation of telecare services that will support more personalised and early preventive interventions and support the government’s reforms to adult social care,” he said.
“The plan includes examples of where local areas have utilised the opportunities presented by the digital phone switchover to advance the use of technology within their social care provision.”
He added that additional necessary actions might be identified in the future, and the plan will be reviewed every six months.
