At present there are 8,863 Telecare subscribers and 97 pending applications. An average of between 1,000 and 1,500 new applications are received every year by Telecare, which is based at the Department for the Elderly and Community Care in Sta Venera.

In order to meet the demand the government signed an agreement with Telecare last week to subsidise 10,000 elderly people until 2009 – hence increasing the number of users by 1,000.

Addressing the media, Ms Helen D’Amato, the Parliamentary Secretary in the Health Ministry emphasised the importance of the service, particularly for the elderly who live on their own.

“This service is crucial for those who feel they are on their own. With this service they can rest easy as they have the assurance that if ever they need assistance they know someone will be there to help them,”

Ms D’Amato urged those who have the service to wear the Telecare pendant at all times as this makes it easy for them to call for help if they need it.

Up to 250 calls are received daily by the Telecare staff in Sta Venera, but not all are of an urgent nature. In fact around three calls would be of an urgent nature. This adds up to between 50 and 60 urgent calls a month.

Ms D’Amato said Telecare staff phone every so often to make their telephone line is working, and also phoned each subscriber on his/her birthday to wish them well.

Although Maltacom is currently investing heavily in top digital technology, it has kept the rates for the elderly tale quale. The system is heavily subsidised by the government.

At present there are 9,000 available lines, but with the new agreement these will be increased by 200 annually, totalling 10,000 lines by 2009.

Addressing the media, Health Minister for Health Dr Louis Deguara said the service was conceived to improve the quality of life for the elderly, and the means to continue living in the community.

However, Dr Deguara appealed for the service not to be abused. He said it was important that those who received the service were really the ones who needed it. There have been cases when a user died or was no longer living on his own and Telecare was not informed, which meant that the line was still allocated to that person – this is a form of abuse of the service. In such cases the service provider should be informed so that the line can be given to somebody else. Dr Deguara said an exercise was underway to ensure that the people who were benefiting from the service satisfied the necessary criteria.

The 24-hour Telecare service aims to keep the elderly living in the community as much as possible. Besides the administrative staff there are 14 telecare operators. They are responsible for seeing to the specific needs of the person requesting the service. This includes contacting relatives, doctors, health centres, ambulance services, police and others.

A specific criterion for the service includes elderly persons living as a couple or alone and those who are seriously ill. Although provided for the elderly, there are particular cases when the service is also available to people who not senior citizens, such as those suffering from a life threatening illness or those who have special needs and live alone.