ITEM 14 Analogue to Digital Telecare Transition
North Lanarkshire Council · 18 October 2023
Back to IJB Performance, Finance and Audit Committee — 18 October 2023 and its agenda
Text extracted from the council's PDF. Layout and reading order may differ from the original.
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1 REPORT Item No: 14 SUBJECT: Analogue to Digital Telecare Transition TO: IJB Performance, Finance & Audit Lead Officer for Report: Ross McGuffie, Chief Officer North HSCP Author(s) of Report Hugh Holt, Senior Officer Assistive Technology + Analogue to Digital Project Lead DATE: 18 October 2023 1. PURPOSE OF REPORT This paper is coming to the IJB for: For approval ☐ For endorsement ☐ To note ☒ 1.1. This report provides an update on the analogue to digital telecare transition within North Lanarkshire Health and Social Care Partnership. 2. ROUTE TO THE BOARD This paper has been: Prepared by the analogue to digital project team and reviewed by senior management. Prepared By: ☒ Reviewed By: ☒ Endorsed By: ☐
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2 3. RECOMMENDATIONS 3.1. The PFA committee is asked to: a) Note the progress of the project to date. 4. VARIATIONS TO DIRECTIONS? 5. BACKGROUND/SUMMARY OF KEY ISSUES Background to Analogue to Digital Transition 5.1. Telephone lines in the UK are being upgraded to digital technology. The process of migrating to digital telephone lines has already started. The rollout is scheduled to be completed by 2025, when analogue telephone services in the UK will be switched off and replaced by digital systems using internet protocol (IP) technology. 5.1.1 North Lanarkshire Council currently provides Community Alarm telecare services to around 6500 service users using Analogue Dispersed Alarm Units (DAU). North Lanarkshire also provides a telecare service to around 800 users within sheltered accommodation. This service receives alerts into an Alarm Receiving Centre, which co-ordinates appropriate response e.g., Emergency Services or Community Alarm Home Support Workers to attend someone in their own home. 5.1.2 The Digital Office for Local Government is currently supporting North Lanarkshire through the transition with subject experts and through a defined support network. 5.1.3. A project board has been established within the organisation with membership from all areas with a direct or linked connection to the community alarm service alongside representatives from senior management, Digital NL Procurement finance, joint equipment store, NHS and enterprise and communities. Alarm Receiving Centre 5.2. In 2022-23 North Lanarkshire’s community alarm service facilitated 429,534 telephone calls into the service. 5.2.1. Tunstall Healthcare currently provides the software used within the community alarm receiving centre which is known as Tunstall PNC 8.1. This software currently processes call through an analogue means. Yes ☐ No ☒ N/A ☐
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3 5.2.2. The requirement of a digital alarm receiving centre to allow for the transition has allowed North Lanarkshire to work with the Digital Office for Local Government to build a tender for national shared digital alarm receiving centre. This work has included 19 other local authorities/Housing Associations to ensure that a robust and secure solution can be found. The tender for this solution was due for release on October 28th, 2022, with an implementation scheduled for Spring 2023, however this has slipped significantly, and the award has yet to be made, this is now anticipated to awarded in October 2023. Dispersed Alarm Equipment 5.3. North Lanarkshire had predominantly used Tunstall Lifeline Vi analogue alarms within a person’s home to allow them to contact the alarm receiving centre. There are still currently around 3500 of these alarms within the community. 5.3.1. North Lanarkshire has procured 3200 digital /hybrid alarms from Careium UK. These alarms do not connect over a land line but operates over the mobile network through a provided roaming SIM card that is inbuilt into the device. These alarms allowed North Lanarkshire to provide a working solution to those without a phone line or who’s phone line was migrated to a digital equivalent. Tunstall did not have any Digital/Hybrid Alarms available. There are currently 2890 of these devices within the community. 5.3.2. Further procurement will be undertaken this financial year to purchase approximately 1500 additional Digital/Hybrid units to replace existing analogue units. Funding for this is already in place from a previous Capital Bid allocation. Analogue Telecare Peripherals 5.4. There is currently a number of analogue telecare peripherals linked to the community alarm service within the community, such as linked smoke, heat and fire alarms, bed sensors, epilepsy sensors and door contacts. Key Issues 5.5. Telephone lines in the UK are being upgraded to digital technology at pace by the major telephone service providers including BT and Virgin Media. Currently North Lanarkshire is working with Telecom Service Providers to identify telecare users within the Authority who will be affected by the migration of analogue services to a digital equivalent, and replacing analogue alarms based on the provided change over dates. 5.5.1. The national shared alarm receiving centre solution was initially planned to be awarded in June 2022, however significant delays were encountered in progressing the project and the final award is now due in October 2023. This has significantly impacted on North Lanarkshire’s timescale to deliver a working digital solution for the Community Alarm Service. The existing infrastructure is an on-premise system, which will become unsupported in 2023, therefore an interim solution to move to a cloud-based software as a service (SaaS) has been agreed with our current supplier (Tunstall) which will provide ongoing service continuity until the new Shared ARC is procured and installed. The timescale for this Shared ARC installation will be known
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4 once the procurement exercise concludes and we engage with the successful supplier. 5.5.2. Current equipment supplies chains are still affected by shortages of microchips which has led to long delays for peripheral supplies, and this has been forecasted to remain an issue until late 2023/early 2024. 5.5.3. We were unable to secure Digital /Hybrid Alarm units from our incumbent supplier due mainly to chip shortages in their supply chain and had to go to market to procure a supply of compatible units to allow the immediate exchange of alarms to service users that were being migrated to a digital telephone network. 5.5.4. Initially we supplied the Hybrid Alarms to service users that only required the Alarm and a pendant; however, we are now required to supply additional peripherals – smoke CO heat etc to meet the needs of our service users. This has highlighted an issue with some incompatibility and at times considerable delays in connection. Additional work is being undertaken to improve the connection issues and work around solutions have been identified to allow the peripheral devices to be correctly identified at the Alarm Receiving Centre. This presents a considerable risk to both Service Users and the Community Alarm Service 5.5.5. A key recommendation from the Digital Telecare Workgroups regarding this transition is the cleansing of current data held within the ARC to meet the new “Telecare Information Framework” that the new shared ARC will have as part of its standard configuration. The current data held on the Tunstall PNC system has over 25,000 records, of which approximately only 7000 are current users. With the current PNC system there is no facility to “batch” delete the 18,000 archived records. Records should be deleted after 5 years (or 3 years if deceased). The post of system administrator was removed from the staff structure within community alarms. This has resulted in deletion not routinely taking place. There may be an option to identify and then delete in batches when the service moves to Software as a Service. (SaaS) 5.5.6 An assessment of the work required to oversee and complete the Data Migration, and then then the Shared ARC migration has been undertaken, this report made some key recommendations which are included in an SBAR agreed at the Analogue to Digital Board. These were. A Service Manager requires to take the lead and oversee the data cleanse ensuring representation from relevant departments attend regular meetings and work on action points to keep the programme on time. Resources require to be identified and dedicated out with The Community Alarm Service to prepare the data records for the shared ARC. Resources need to be identified e.g., a System Administrator moving forward to keep the data cleansing updated.
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5 There needs to be resource and time commitment from IT, Admin and Corporate Comms to support this programme. This same group needs to be part of the Project Team delivering the transition to the new ARC. The current PNC records are checked and updated in line with the Digital Office recommendations -based on the Telecare Information Framework that will be required to migrate to the Shared Arc when it is implemented. A template for this Telecare Information Framework is designed to capture this information on a single consistent working document, and this template is used for information gathering for any new Service Users being added to our PNC going forward to maintain the data integrity before migration. Peer quality checking any updated information for service users across SWIS and PNC to maintain accuracy of contact /keysafe number changes on both systems. If possible, the SWIS record should also be updated with any changes or amendments the PNC update identifies. 6. CONCLUSIONS 6.1. The analogue to digital transition requires to be completed by 2025 to ensure that North Lanarkshire can provide a working and reliable community alarm service. This will require the system used within the community alarm service to be a digital receiving software and for all equipment in the community to work through a digital means of signalling. 6.1.2 The analogue to digital transition in North Lanarkshire is still currently on track with work already underway in several key areas. Digital devices roll out plan – 2890 devices of 6500 have been migrated to date. Data cleanse of current system- all live records now have a SWIS identifier. National Shared ARC due for award October 2023 but full implementation not anticipated until at least September 2024 Interim Software as a Solution (SaaS) purchase agreed to replace current on- site PNC system- to go live in Feb 2024 to provide service continuity to the Community Alarm Service 6.1.3. The Data cleansing exercise required in preparation for the implementation of the Shared ARC and the implementation of the shared ARC will require dedicated resources from various Service areas. A Project team to ensure the process concludes successfully tasks and responsibilities for both areas have been initially scoped with the assistance of the Digital Office subject matter experts and will be brought to the next Analogue to Digital Board meeting for discussion.
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6 7. IMPLICATIONS 7.1 NATIONAL OUTCOMES Link(s) to National Health and Wellbeing Outcomes People are able to look after and improve their own health and wellbeing and live in good health for longer ☐ People, including those with disabilities or long-term conditions, or who are frail, are able to live, as far as reasonable practicable, independently and at home or in a homely setting in their community ☐ People who use Health and Social Care Services have positive experiences of those services, and have dignity respected ☐ Health and Social Care Services are centred on helping to maintain or improve the quality of life of people who use those services ☐ Health and Social Care Services contribute to reducing health inequalities ☐ People who use Health and Social Care Services are safe from harm ☐ People who work in Health and Social Care Services feel engaged with the work they do and are supported to continuously improve the information, support, care and treatment they provide ☐ Resources are used effectively and efficiently in the provision of Health and Social Care Services ☐ 7.2 ASSOCIATED MEASURE(S) 7.3 FINANCIAL This paper has been reviewed by Finance: Finance have not reviewed this current paper; however, finance have been consulted throughout the life of the project and are currently members of the analogue to digital board. 7.3.1. The analogue to digital transition currently has capital funding of £2 million to support with the replacement of the alarm receiving centre, dispersed community alarms and peripherals associated with the community alarms. 7.3.2. There will be a revenue cost to the organisation for the subscription to the national shared alarm receiving centre. Yes ☐ No ☒ N/A ☐
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7 7.3.3 There will be a revenue cost associated with the SIM cards placed within the analogue/digital hybrid and then fully digital devices. 7.3.2. Indicative costs for the transition have been scoped alongside the Digital Office for Scotland and are noted below: Costs: Cost Element Capital Revenue 3 Year Cost Notes Telecare solution setup and recurring contract costs: £10,000 (First year) £35,000 per year Disaster Recovery - £0 £ 105,000 Disaster Recovery - £0 Indicative costs supplied by the Digital Office New in-home digital alarm equipment: £1,193,500 (alarms only, no peripherals) £312,000 per annum if not within bundle (costed at £4 per month per sim) £2,129,500+ (Cost of devices over first year and then sim charge over 3 years) £312,000 sim card cost is for the further 5500 alarms that we will require to buy for this. Total £1,203,500 £ 347,000 £ 2,234,500 7.4 RISK ASSESSMENT/RISK MANAGEMENT Relevant Risk Register Details Current Risk Level Risk Owner Choose an item. 7.4.1. All risks around the analogue to digital transition are managed by the analogue to digital project board. 7.4.2. The analogue to digital transition is also on the organisational risk register with updates on a 6 monthly basis. 7.5 ENGAGEMENT & PARTICPATION Please tick the engagement and participation objectives that link(s) with this piece of work and provide further details regarding the engagement and participation that was undertaken. Objectives Further Details ☐ Involve stakeholders in the development work aimed at achieving the national
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8 outcomes ☐ Provide stakeholders with information on how to get involved ☐ Ensure a diverse range of engagement and participation and opportunities are in place to suit different needs ☐ Measure how well we involve community stakeholders in the planning, design and delivery of our services ☐ Provide regular feedback on how stakeholder engagement and participation is shaping and influencing service development and delivery ☐ Provide support to enable stakeholder representatives to participate meaningfully and confidently at meetings ☐ Develop participation guidelines to ensure a common understanding and set of expectations for both stakeholders and partnership staff ☐ Support engagement planning and participation in localities, taking account of other engagement activity and local plans across the Community Planning Partnership 7.5.1. The communities of North Lanarkshire will continue to be informed of the analogue to digital telecare transition and users of the service will be contacted directly to allow the instillation of new equipment. 7.6 INEQUALITIES & FAIRER SCOTLAND DUTY EQIA Completed & Fairer Scotland Impact Assessment Form Completed and attached to report: EQIA added to website: Yes ☒ No ☐ N/A ☐
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9 8. BACKGROUND PAPERS Scotland Digital Health and Care Strategy - Digital health and care strategy - gov.scot (www.gov.scot) Digital Office National Telecare Briefing Document - Digital Telecare Playbook · LAUNCH OF THE NATIONAL BRIEFING DOCUMENT (digitaloffice.scot) 9. APPENDICES Please include a glossary of terms if not already included. None. CHIEF ACCOUNTABLE OFFICER (or Depute) Members seeking further information about any aspect of this report, please contact the following; Ross McGuffie Ross.McGuffie@lanarkshire.scot.nhs.uk Yes / Date added ☐ No ☐ N/A ☐
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10 Direction from North Lanarkshire Integration Joint Board (IJB) 1 Reference Number 2 Report Title 3 Date direction issued by IJB 4 Date from which direction takes effect 5 Direction to: 6 Does this direction supersede, revise or revoke a previous direction – if yes, include reference number(s) 7 Functions covered by direction 8 Full text of direction 9 Budget allocated by Integration Joint Board to carry out direction 10 Performance Management / Governance arrangements 11 Date direction will be reviewed