News and press releases

BSI holds public consultation over new lone worker protection standard

The British Standards institute is currently inviting public comments on the draft of BS 8484, a standard for the management of lone worker protection services. The draft standard covers the provision of services using electronic monitoring and alarm techniques.

Comments on this draft should be submitted to BSI by 31 January 2009.

For more information go to the BSI consultation site: http://drafts.bsigroup.com/?i=249

Posted on Tuesday, 09-Dec-2008

Staff at Richmond Careline are celebrating Christmas early this year following their successful Code of Practice audit. The Careline service, operated by the London Borough of Richmond, was inspected by the Telecare Services Association's auditor on Monday 8 December 2008. The auditor spent the entire day looking at the operation of the Careline centre, checking the service's documentation, listening to calls and interviewing staff. At the end of the inspection, the auditor was pleased to be able to confirm that the Careline service had passed the inspection and had achieved the standards required by the Telecare Services Association (TSA) Code of Practice for call handling services.

HPS Consulting was appointed by Richmond Careline to review their service documentation and prepare the documentation and the service for audit against the TSA Code of Practice.

Speaking after the audit, Bonnie Conway, the CCTV and Careline Manager at Richmond said. "This achievement recognises the dedication and hard work the team contributed towards achieving the highest standards of service for all our well deserving customers. We have been tracking the Code of Practice standards since they were first published in 1988 and have been confident that we were exceeding those standards. However, without dedicated input, we have not been able to evidence our quality and we are grateful for the input provided by HPS Consulting."

John Hennock commented, "HPS Consulting has enjoyed working with Bonnie and her team on this project. We are extremely happy that they have been able to evidence formally the quality that they so clearly had, and that they have done so on their first attempt. While we are happy for the staff at Richmond Careline, we are also pleased that they have helped us maintain our unbroken sequence of first time audit successes."

Posted on Tuesday, 09-Dec-2008

Hanover in Hackney Housing Association was inspected by the Telecare Services Association's auditor on 26 November 2008. The Hackney Telecare Response Service was seeking accreditation against Part 3 of the TSA Code of Practice (mobile response services). The Service passed the audit on their first attempt with flying colours and the auditor commended the Service on the rigour of its documentation and the knowledge and understanding of the staff.

HPS Consulting was invited to provide support to Hanover in Hackney to prepare the Telecare Response Service for audit against the TSA Code following a competitive procurement process. Work on preparation started in August and was completed in October.

Speaking about the audit, John Flowerday, the Deputy Director at Hanover in Hackney commented; "We are particularly delighted by this result, achieving TSA accreditation at the first time of asking. Our task was made easier by working with HPS who listened to what we wanted, discussed what we needed and delivered to brief, on time and on budget. TSA accreditation means a lot to us, demonstrating to customers and commissioners that we deliver a vital service to the highest quality standards; HPS have played a key role in our success."

Speaking about Hackney Telecare Response Service's achievement, John Hennock said that; "The Telecare Response Service is the first and only pure-response organisation to achieve accreditation against the TSA Code of Practice. As late as May 2008 the TSA was providing guidance to its members that a standalone accreditation to Part 3 of its Code was impossible, as a mobile response service would need to operate within the context of a wider telecare service to be able demonstrate that it met the full range and scope of the requirements of the Code of Practice. We are pleased to have been able to support Hanover in Hackney in achieving this notable first; this is a high quality service deserving of recognition."

Posted on Thursday, 04-Dec-2008