A local care group has been praised for its special telecare service.

Digital Telecare for Scottish Local Government confirmed that South Ayrshire Health and Social Care Partnership (HSCP) has been awarded the Bronze Digital Telecare Implementation Award in recognition of the progress it has made on its analogue to digital telecare transition project.

To achieve Bronze status through Route 2, a telecare service provider must have successfully deployed digital-ready alarm devices to at least 50 per cent of all dispersed and group alarm users.

This is the first major milestone in the transition to digital telecare and sets the foundations upon which the rest of the digital telecare transition will rest.

Billy McClean, head of community health and care services, said: “The South Ayrshire Health and Social Care Partnership is delighted to start our official accreditation for the work to upgrade our telecare service.

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"The national analogue to digital changes to phonelines required urgent work to develop a digital approach. We are committed to providing a reliable service to all those who require telecare support in our community, this vital service is available 24/7, 365 days a year.

"We have approximately 2,500 telecare users in our local community and our new digital alarms are now in place in more than 50 per cent of households using the service.

"I would like to thank our teams for their hard work getting us to this stage and look forward to seeing the work continue.”

Councillor Lee Lyons, health and social care portfolio holder for South Ayrshire Council, said: “I am delighted with the team’s progress in implementing a fully digital solution, which will ensure that our telecare systems are fit for purpose.

"This award is just the start of our commitment to digital telecare. We have invested in our telecare team to ensure we can roll out the updates required to all telecare users as quickly as possible to avoid any disruption to this valuable service.

"The team is continuing the momentum with a view to reaching gold standard before the end of the year."