Welcome to our newsletter, where we provide you with the latest from Digital Telecare for Scottish Government. In this edition, we bring you a recap of the events within the Digital Telecare Programme over the past month, along with insights of upcoming activities.
If you have any queries regarding any of the content within this newsletter, please get in touch.
Less Than 500 Days Left Until the End of the Digital Telephone Migration.
Our Digital Telecare Programme is here to support all Scottish Local Authorities, Health and Social Care Partnerships, and Housing Associations in preparing for this transformation.
Whilst BT has extended their migration deadline to 2027, other telecom companies are unchanged and we remain committed to counting down to the 2025 deadline to ensure all Scottish Telecare Service Providers are ready well in advance.
Transitioning to digital services before the 2025 deadline is crucial to avoid any interruptions. Our dedicated Digital Telecare team is armed with the resources and expertise to help you on your journey to digital.
Over 50% End-to-End Digital and Digital Ready Connections.
We are delighted to share we have reached another milestone in the journey towards a digital future for telecare services!
Thanks to the hard work of Telecare Service Providers across Scotland, over 50% of connections across the nation are now end-to-end digital or digital ready.
Latest figures:
Total Alarm Connections: 116,210
Digital ready: 32,307
Digital end-to-end: 28,808
Combined digitally capable: 61,115
Dumfries and Galloway Council Achieve Bronze Digital Telecare Implementation Award.
Dumfries and Galloway Council has been awarded the Bronze Digital Telecare Implementation Award in recognition of the progress they have made on their analogue to digital telecare transition project.
The Council Telecare team has been working hard to get ready for the rollout of the national digital telephone network and convert all their existing personal alarm equipment to be digital compliant. They have 4 Technicians supported by 5 Field Officers who are visiting over 4,000 Care Call clients throughout the region and installing new digital equipment.
Dumfries and Galloway Council have now passed the halfway point of the rollout, and are on course to meet the December 2025 deadline to achieve a fully digital service. The Bronze implementation award recognises the progress towards this goal and the substantial work already undertaken by all Care Call staff.
East Dunbartonshire Council Achieve Bronze Digital Telecare Implementation Award.
East Dunbartonshire Council has been awarded the Bronze Digital Telecare Implementation Award in recognition of the progress they have made on their analogue to digital telecare transition project.
The Council adopted a ‘digital by default’ position on operations in April 2023 and since then has made great strides in providing digital telecare services in East Dunbartonshire. The project has been supported by the Digital Office and Shared ARC programme, and the first step involved a thorough assessment of the existing telecare infrastructure and the identification of what was needed for digital migration.
East Dunbartonshire Council aims to have a 75% deployment by 2025 whilst further enhancing digital infrastructure. The Council are also planning for a complete modernisation of all sheltered housing complexes in tandem with the deployment of the Shared ARC Platform.
The Digital Telecare Assessed Solutions List V2 is almost complete and will be launched in the coming weeks.
This has been a substantial root and branch rework of the process and questionnaire in light of the learnings we have had from the first version's years of service.
The new process will cover the traditional components of Telecare but now with added sections covering modern solutions such as mobile apps and web services.
This expansion of the coverage of the scheme reflects the fast moving innovation in the digital telecare market and will help organisations to know that services they are procuring have gone through a security assessment based on modern best practices such as the NCSC 10 Steps and CIS Controls.
Link and Bield Response 24 Partnership Offers Customers an Enhanced Digital Service.
Link, one of Scotland’s largest housing and support services organisations, has completed a competitive tendering process to appoint a fully digital alarm receiving centre.
Bield Response 24 is a TSA (Telecare Services Association) accredited contact centre. The Alarm Receiving Centre (ARC) is a facility that monitors and responds to alarms raised by customers. ARCs play a critical role in ensuring rapid response to emergencies, providing peace of mind for customers.
David Brown, The Digital Office’s Business Relationship Manager, said: “We are delighted to support the collaborative efforts between Bield and Link Housing on the deployment of a digital alarm receiving centre solution. This partnership exemplifies our commitment to working together to enhance the safety and wellbeing of our communities through the deployment of innovative digital solutions. Moreover, we believe that innovation is now firmly on the horizon for both organisations and deployment of a digital ARC, and a digital-first approach will unlock many future benefits for their customers and staff."
CLI Issue: Information for Telecare Service Providers.
The Digital Office is continuing to work with SIM provider CSL, alarm manufacturers, and Telecare Service Providers to understand which existing alarms/SIMs are impacted by the CLI issue.
To date we have only seen evidence of this affecting SIMs with the prefix +88 and +46. However, CSL have advised us that other prefixes could see the issue too.
To reduce the impact of the issue, the Digital Office recommends that Telecare Service Providers ensure that any NEW alarms they buy, or install are not going to be affected by the CLI issue.
For more information on this issue and supporting guidance on how to communicate this to manufactures, head to our website below.
Talk Talk have announced that they will be removing their temporary technical fix for STMF failed calls in January 2025. This means that there is no way to guarantee STMF calls can be used. However, the calls might be safely routed if they aren't using the affected parts of the UK networks.
Given the unpredictability of calls through STMF, our advice is to ensure no alarms are fixed to STMF at any point.
For more information on this and to download our previous guidance on STMF to DTMF programming for Tunstall devices, head to our website.
We have been working closely with Openreach and several local authorities to develop a briefing for the Openreach ALL-IP Programme.
This briefing is designed to educate consumers and businesses, with a particular focus on supporting vulnerable individuals and preventing exploitation during the transition from analogue to digital services.
For more information on this and to access the ALL-IP Digital Switchover Leaflet, head to our website.
TECH Conference - Back to the Future: Saving time with technology.
Join us at the TECH Conference on 29th October 2024 to explore how social housing can go back to basics by looking to the future!
Destination Digital – Route to Digital Telecare Workshop. Sharon Hannah, our Project Manager, will guide you through a typical journey to digital, measuring your successes along the way. She will also give a little insight into the emerging Scottish Shared ARC benefits and will finish with details of funding opportunity only applicable to those with grouped housing to explore new fully digital solutions.
