The Health Ministry, signed an agreement yesterday with Maltacom plc for the extension of the service covering the September 2004 - August 2009 period. However, Maltacom chairman Sonny Portelli, explained that with the new digital infrastructure – in which the company was investing to make the extension possible – a new range of services could be made available, in addition to the basic Telecare function.
The additional services could include the integration of an alarm system with the phone alert service. The alarm would alert staff at the call centre that there are fire or burglar alarms being set off in the subscriber’s home. “First we want to put in place the system and make sure it satisfies the needs of this agreement and the Telecare subscribers, then we will start looking at the possibilities to expand the service and even offer it to non-subsidised clients.”
The cost for the new digital equipment will be carried by the company and will not affect the price of the service. This was only possible, Mr Portelli said, because the company was making profit. He said that the recent raise in tariffs obviously did not go down well with the public, however it was these adjustments that made it possible for the company to undertake projects such as these.
The service started in 1991, and at the moment has 8,863 subscribers, while 97 are having their application assessed. The service is subsidised by the government and all the users pay is Lm1 a month. People eligible for the service have to meet certain criteria, such as having a chronic disease or being elderly and living alone.
Health, Community Care and the Elderly Minister Louis Deguara and parliamentary secretary Helen Damato were also present at the signing. Dr Deguara commented on the sustainability of the system, saying that people should not abuse of the service and apply for it only if they really need it and not because a friend at the coffee morning has one.
He said that there were cases when the service would sit at a home unused, because nobody would have reported that the person for whom it was intended would have passed away.
Mrs Damato on the other hand appealed for the people subscribed to the service to carry the pendant supplied with the Telecare phone. The pendant allows the user to alert the Telecare staff, in the case of an emergency, in which it is not possible to walk up to the actual telephone set.
“The pendant could save a life,” Mrs Damato pointed out, “it should be used and not stored for safe keeping... it is of no use in the drawer.”
The Telecare call centre is situated in St Venera and is run by Elderly Department employees. The centre receives a daily average of 250 - 400 calls of which only a small percentage are actual emergencies.
Mrs Damato said that some elderly often contacted because they felt lonely or simply to check whether the system works. “There is no harm in this,” she said, “especially if the team can help with referring serious problem such as depression.”
In this connection she said that the staff call every subscribers on their birthday and on other occasions to check on their clients and to check the system.