Record satisfaction levels for Yorkshire telecare service

Satisfaction levels for a Yorkshire telecare service that allows elderly and vulnerable people to live independently for longer is at an all time high, according to figures from Wakefield and District Housing (WDH).

Care Link, which provides a range of modern community alarms and telecare equipment to more than 15,500 customers across the Wakefield district, has revealed that overall satisfaction for the service has grown to 96%.

Last year it became the first business in Yorkshire to receive full accreditation from its representative body, the Telecare Services Association (TSA), and will come as welcome news for the government on both local and national levels.

Telecare services help people live independently in their own homes for longer and are seen as key parts in government strategy to deal with the UK’s ageing population as they take pressure off care homes that are currently struggling to meet demand due to funding cuts from local authorities.

WDH Customer Contact Manager Mick Walsh said: “These figures are the result of our commitment to improving the service and driving it forward to meet the changing needs and requirements from our customer.

“This is obviously represented in the highest satisfaction levels we have ever recorded. This demonstrates that we are getting things right and delivering genuine peace of mind for our customers. We will continue to invest in modern technology to develop the service around those who use it.”

Care Link was founded in 1990 as part of Wakefield Council’s housing department and operated from a small converted flat in Normanton, with just 12 employees serving 7,000 customers.

Today it operates from a purpose built customer contact centre in Glasshoughton as part of WDH and has 40 employees working 24 hours a day – through Christmas, Easter and Bank Holidays – responding to emergency call-outs.

“We have a very special group of people working for us. They are absolutely dedicated to ensuring that our customers receive all the support they need, and that is the reason behind our success,” said Mr Walsh.

“Working for Care Link is more than just a job; it’s about serving the people who rely on us, round the clock, to the highest standard.”

Argyll Lone Worker Launches Proactive Risk Management Service

At the ‘Emergency Scotland 2011’ exhibition held at the SECC today, the UK’s largest Lone Worker service provider, Argyll, announced the release of ‘PRiSM’ a Proactive Risk and Safety Management service. PRiSM is a free of charge service to Argyll’s clients and stakeholders. It enables organisations with Lone Workers to identify and log the location of specific risks, such as violence & aggression, affecting their personnel and then ensure their safety by providing early intervention using powerful search tools or by issuing proactive alerts to Lone Workers upon approach to the risk location. This innovative solution is thought to be the first proactive service of it’s kind operated within the Lone Worker industry. The service has been developed by Argyll in consultation with Nick Arnold, the current Chairperson of the National Ambulance Security Group and LSMS based at East Midlands Ambulance Service who initially came to Argyll seeking a solution to enable an intelligent proactive link between workers and known locations of risk and this joint working brought about PRiSM which complies with the NHS Protect National Guidelines.

PRiSM is a membership based solution and it has been designed to be shared amongst key partner stakeholders whilst still meeting the requirements of legislation. Key risks to personnel are identified and logged by front-line staff using an Internet service. Incident markers are then vetted and eventually published to the wider membership using a rigorous management and review process. The solution is designed to reduce under reporting, eliminate false markers, minimise the time involved in creating warning markers, improve accessibility and improve management of risk incidents and data. PRiSM additionally provides each organisation with analytical statistics and helps improve work processes for risk warning markers. A formal review process ensures the quality of data reassuring the organisation that risk markers affecting the safety of personnel remain up-to-date and valid.

For further information on the PRiSM solution visit: PRiSM Solution

Garda handed $92,750 in penalties for failing to ensure worker safety

The vast majority of $92,750 in penalties levied against a national security company on Friday, for failing to ensure the safety of a female guard who was raped by an intruder at an unsecure construction site nearly five years ago, will go to a new program for safety training of lone workers.

Provincial court Judge Marlene Graham accepted the joint sentencing submission by Crown lawyer Alison McGill and Robbie Davidson, counsel for Garda Canada Securities Corp., which pleaded guilty to the Occupational Health and Safety Act charge.

The total amount includes a $5,000 fine and $750 victim fine surcharge, plus $87,000 for the Hazard Assessment Working Alone program at SAIT Polytechnic starting in September 2012.

"I like this program," said the 39-year-old woman who was attacked by the man about 3 a.m. on Nov. 1. "I feel nobody will get hurt after this program is going. It will benefit everybody."

Previously, the victim, who had been living in Canada for three years and had only been issued her security guard licence by Garda three weeks prior to the assault, told court in a victim impact statement she thought she was going to die.

"I was scared when I got there that night," she recalled on Friday outside court. "There was no entrance. It was just covered with plastic. When I heard the noise, I was in the corner so he wouldn't see me."

McGill previously told the judge this is the first such prosecution under the OHSA in Alberta, and possibly Canada, where a company has been charged after an employee working alone was the victim of a criminal offence.

The victim was called by a supervisor to keep watch overnight at a Macleod Trail site where a Shoppers Drug Mart was under construction after a co-worker called in sick.

Graham said Garda's primary negligence was failing to conduct a specific site assessment.

"In my view, this was very obviously a dangerous and unsafe site," said the judge. "It was an outdoor site just off Macleod Trail. "There was an exit door at the back that was always locked. One wonders why you'd have an exit door if it's always locked."

Graham noted the front of the site was covered by an orange tarp flap that was unsecured. She was provided with a chair, but no means of protection from anyone who might venture on to the site.

"There was a high degree of probability an intruder might enter at night in winter, for warmth or to take construction material . . . who knows what else," she said.

"It was also foreseeable that a criminal act could happen. It was patently unsafe and not addressed by Garda. It showed a high degree of negligence. (The victim) was affected profoundly by the sexual and physical assault.

"Garda is not to be prosecuted for the act of the intruder, but for its own negligence."

Read more: http://www.calgaryherald.com/Garda+handed+penalties+failing+ensure+worker+safety/5077364/story.html#ixzz1RnMzd86q

US soldier makes app for tracking down Taliban fighters

Getting shot at by Taliban fighters and need to call an air strike? There's an app for that.

Tactical Nav can be downloaded to a smartphone to figure out where an enemy is firing from, and to call in an air strike or covering fire.

It was created by US army captain Jonathan Springer after two of his comrades were killed in a rocket attack.

He says it is as accurate as any technology currently in use for the same purpose, and far cheaper too.

Captain Springer is back in his Indiana home after a 12-month tour in Afghanistan with the 101st Airborne.

Over a beer, he remembers fallen comrades - and two in particular.

"Specialist Plunk and Specialist Thompson. We were in the Pesh River Valley. They took a rocket. Died instantly."

Those deaths, he said, got him thinking.

"What can I do to help prevent something like this in future?"

His answer was to create the Tactical Nav app, which troops can download to their smartphones.

"It combines three components," he said.

"A compass, a map, and a camera. It's pretty simple - but obviously it does a little more than that."

He said he's tested his app against everything currently in use in Afghanistan - and claimed it is just as accurate.

The app is designed to give soldiers exact co-ordinates for where enemy fire is coming from.

They can then send that information to their command centre, who will decide whether to call in an air strike, or send a rescue helicopter to help wounded troops.

"The first time I tried it for real," he said, "I sighed with relief.

"I could have got into trouble - but it worked.

"As a fire support officer, I take into battle a compass, binoculars, a map, a protractor, a GPS device - a secondary GPS device in case one fails - and batteries.

"What this does is, it combines all these components, and throws it into just the one app," he said.

But Captain Springer said he'd been disappointed that his US army bosses hadn't taken more of an interest in the idea.

He said he had spent about £20,000 (more than $30,000) of his own money - and that he asked the military for financial support.

"I emailed the army saying, 'I'm not looking for a pay-cheque, but are there any kind of grants or anything you can help me with?'

"They said, 'sorry, we don't have the funds right now'."

Captain Springer said he was "very frustrated" by that response. He called it "a slap in the face".

"It really hurts because I'm doing something for the troops. But it just motivates me to continue."

The US military didn't respond when Newsbeat asked them for a comment.

In the UK, the Ministry of Defence says it's "actively exploring" ways to use smartphones in recruitment and training, as well as on the battlefield.

Now, Captain Springer is selling his app to anyone that wants it - on the iPhone's app store.

"I only sell it to try to make back the money I invested - I don't see dollar signs. I see soldiers' lives," he said.

(For full report, go to: http://www.bbc.co.uk/newsbeat/13928538 )

Elderly 'facing cuts to care despite promises'

Social care budgets for the elderly in England will be cut this year - despite promises to invest more cash, according to an analysis of spending plans.

The Age UK research, based on freedom of information data, suggested spending on the over-65s would drop by over 8%.

The charity predicted the impact of such a cut could be "devastating" as the system was already at crisis point.

Care services minister Paul Burstow questioned the figures, suggesting the situation was not as bad as claimed.

He acknowledged budgets were "under pressure" but said that did not always lead to a deterioration in care.

"While some councils may simply be cutting care, others are working hard to get more for less with innovative ways of delivering better care, including using more telecare and cutting needless admissions to hospital and residential care," said Mr Burstow.

The findings come after extra money was promised in the 2010 spending review.

Ministers said £2bn more would be invested in social care by 2015, with the first tranche coming this financial year.

This was earmarked for both elderly care and younger adults with disabilities.
Rationing

The promise came after the government had announced a review of the system amid evidence councils were having to ration care because of the increased demands being placed on services by an ageing population.

That review is due to publish its recommendations next Monday (4th July) and pave the way for an overhaul of the means-tested system.

Social care has been struggling for funding in recent years with the overall budget only rising slightly above inflation.

In recognition of the problems, the government said last year it would set aside some extra funds to help the system until any new arrangements were introduced.

But the Age UK research suggested that the money was not yet getting through to the frontline of elderly care.

It asked all 152 councils with responsibility for social care for data on their spending plans and service provision for the elderly for this financial year.

The charity received information on spending from 110 councils, which suggested the budget would be cut by 8.4% - equivalent to £610m.

It also received evidence councils were coping by taking measures such as reducing the number of care home places and hours of home help.

Michelle Mitchell, from Age UK, said: "Funding for social care is already inadequate. The consequences of cutting expenditure further could be devastating.

"We are fearful that even more vulnerable older people will be left to struggle alone and in some cases will be put at risk."

Councillor David Rogers, of the Local Government Association (LGA), pointed out while extra money had been promised by ministers for social care, it was being cancelled out by the wider cuts to local government - its budget from central government is being reduced by a quarter over the next four years.

"As the LGA warned last year, and this report backs up, government funding cuts have left councils with huge gaps in their adult social care budgets. Savings have to be found and tough decisions will have to be made in some areas."