Telecare
Reassurance
calls service
The challenge
Loneliness affects millions of people in the UK, and as well as
being a social issue it can have a detrimental effect on health.
• 3.5 million people aged 65 and over 2 million (49%) of
people aged 75 and over live alone
• Over 1 million older people say they are always or often
feel lonely
‘‘
Our Telecare Service remains a great success
in making a difference to the lives of thousands
of older and vulnerable adults across the city
of Birmingham. Working in partnership with
a national charity such as The Silver Line,
demonstrates our ambition to learn and to
assess how the additional offer of emotional
support may play a role in our future service
design. It also has allowed us and the BTS to
build relationships with a national charity that
make future collaboration possible.
’’
Chris Brothwood, Project Manager – Equipment
and Technology Enabled Care Services, Birmingham
Better Care
• 2.9 million older people in the UK feel they have no one
to turn to for help and support
• Loneliness can be as harmful for our health as smoking
15 cigarettes a day
• People with a high degree of loneliness are twice as
likely to develop Alzheimer’s than people with a low
degree of loneliness
How can a Reassurance Calls service help
older people to feel less lonely?
What we did
The Birmingham Telecare Service (BTS) was established
in 2012 with the aim of supporting residents of the city
to remain living independently in their own homes. The
service combines a response service with a range of
telecare solutions to support older people and those
with long-term needs. Should the telecare sensors
detect a problem, such as a fire or flood, they will
automatically notify the Tunstall Response monitoring
centre, where trained operators can talk to the service
user and send appropriate help. Service users can also
use a personal pendant to contact the monitoring centre
for assistance from anywhere in their home 24 hours a
day. There are currently around 15,000 people
benefitting from the service.
BTS has recently begun working with The Silver Line to
evaluate whether offering a Reassurance Calls Service
to BTS service users could help to meet some of the
challenges presented by loneliness. The Silver Line is
a national charity founded by Dame Esther Rantzen
DBE which offers information, friendship and advice to
older people.
Statistics from Later Life in the UK, Age UK, August 2015
The Reassurance Calls Service gives BTS service users
who feel isolated or vulnerable emotional support, in addition
to the reassurance gained from the telecare service. The
Service was offered initially to 100 people, who were regular
users of BTS, had recently been discharged from hospital,
new users and those who had previously expressed an
interest in helping to develop BTS. People receiving the
Reassurance Calls service are contacted by a member of
The Silver Line Friendship Team once a week for a ten
minute chat at a time convenient to them. Following this,
service users may then be directed to The Silver Line’s
existing befriending service.
In addition to supporting lonely older people, information
gathered as a result of the Reassurance Calls Service is
helping to inform future strategy in Birmingham regarding
the use of telecare alongside other enabling service
provision. This work is also part of the Birmingham Better
Care project, which is evaluating different and new models
of care delivery.
You can read about how the Reassurance Calls service
has helped people overleaf.
Telecare
George’s story
George is in his 90s. He’s been married for over 70 years but lives alone
as his wife has advanced dementia and now lives in a care home where
George visits her each day. He reports his wellbeing as generally good
but he often becomes upset when talking about his wife’s condition. On
one Reassurance Call, George was extremely distressed, having just
had bad news regarding his wife’s health, and said he found it a relief to
talk to someone about it. George has family but does not wish to be a
burden to them, which leaves him feeling more isolated as he tries to
cope with the emotional distress that the ongoing deterioration of his
wife’s condition is causing him.
George was matched with a Silver Line Friend, who has been bereaved
after a long marriage. When asked how his first call with his Silver Line
Friend had gone, George commented on what a lovely lady she was
and that he was really looking forward to their next call.
Barbara’s story
Barbara is in her late 50s, lives alone and is registered disabled. She
frequently experiences pain and her ill health impacts negatively on her
level of independence, which she finds frustrating. Barbara has some
family but no friends and can go for weeks without seeing anyone
socially. She reported her mood as being really low, and her outlook on
life as quite negative.
Barbara expressed how much she enjoyed receiving the Reassurance
Calls and was subsequently matched to a Silver Line Friend close to her
own age with whom she shared some interests. When The Silver Line
contacted her to find out how she and her Silver Line Friend were
getting along, Barbara sounded far more positive in general and
reported that she and her Silver Line Friend make each other laugh.
She also remarked that on weeks when she has no contact with anyone
else, she is reassured by the knowledge that she’ll still get a call from
her Silver Line Friend for a chat and doesn’t feel as isolated or lonely.
Reggie’s story
Reggie is 62 years old, has poor mobility and is prone to falling. He has
no children and his only family is a brother that lives a great distance
from him. He has no friends. He seeks practical support and friendship
due to a combination of physical health issues, financial difficulties and
for the isolation and loneliness he experiences.
Reggie was keen to receive the Reassurance Calls service, and now also
calls The Silver Line Helpline for an additional chat every now and then.
He has missed several calls from The Silver Line, but each time Reggie
has contacted the Helpline to ensure he continued to receive them.
During telephone conversations with Reggie, he would talk about the
things he was going through. He also expressed his gratitude, saying
how much it means to him to have someone to talk to. The Silver Line
was able to build up a Pen Picture of him during those calls and he has
now been matched to a Silver Line Friend.
Names have been changed and photos posed by models to protect identities.
If you would like more information about the Silver Line Reassurance Calls service or the Birmingham Telecare
Service, please call 0330 1234 042