Please note that from 1st April 2024 any applicant referring to the Community Alarm Telecare service that requires:
- the Bon Accord Care responder service as their only contact
- to add the responder service on as an additional contact as they don’t have enough personal contacts
- to add the responder service on as a last contact to assist someone in the house with lifting
will be required to provide and install their own key safe.
Please note that from 1st April 2024 any applicant referring to the Community Alarm Telecare service that requires:
- the Bon Accord Care responder service as their only contact
- to add the responder service on as an additional contact as they don’t have enough personal contacts
- to add the responder service on as a last contact to assist someone in the house with lifting
will be required to provide and install their own key safe. Community alarm telecare equipment will not be installed until the service has confirmation a key safe is in place and a key is being held within it 24/7.
For flatted properties, ideally the key safe should be outside the main door and hold the main door key/fob for the building along with the flat door key. We understand that the odd occasion may arise where the individual has had no choice but to fit their key safe outside their flat door, but a main door key/fob is required to enter the building to access their key safe. On these occasions the service will continue to hold the main door key/fob, which should be supplied before installation of equipment takes place and this will be held in a secure central location for Bon Accord Care responders to access when they are called out in an emergency. Service users will require to sign a consent form to allow the service to hold their key.
In exceptional circumstances the service may assist with supply of a permanent key safe, but this will not be the norm. We can also assist with the provision of a portable key safe, if there is a suitable place to leave it, on a temporary basis, until such time the individual can arrange a permanent key safe to be installed – this would apply to urgent hospital discharges, where the person requires equipment in order to get home but doesn’t have a key safe in place.
The referral form has been changed to reflect the above operational changes. For anyone using the first contact referral please make the applicant aware of the above when discussing the service with them.
I also take this opportunity to advise that Aberdeen City Council has raised the Community Alarm Telecare weekly charge from 1st April 2024 from £3.65 to £3.85/week (was £189.80/year, now £200.20/year).