Safe and sound community alarm service

• Community alarm service
• How do I get a safe and sound community alarm?
• Who would benefit from the service?
• How does the service work?
• Customer experience

Community alarm service

Haringey Community Alarms is a 24 hour, 365 days a year emergency service provided by Haringey Council. It offers older people, vulnerable people, people with disabilities and victims of domestic violence and harassment a home safety and personal security system. It also provides an instant response if there is an emergency in the home.

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How do I get a safe and sound community alarm

Contact the service to request an application form for an assessment, or to request a free demonstration. You will be asked to provide:

• Your name
• Address
• Telephone number
• Reason for the request
• Details of any disabilities
• Key holder details or details on access to your home
• Any interpreting needs

Contact details

• Email: safeandsound@haringey.gov.uk
• Tel: 020 8489 2365
• Write to:
  Haringey Community Alarms
  40 Cumberland Road
  Wood Green
  N22 7SG

To work out how much help is needed, and if you qualify for equipment to be paid for by us, adult social care will carry out an assessment of your needs. If you already have a social worker or occupational therapist, they can advise you further. After the assessment, we will agree your needs and discuss the help and support available to you. The Community Alarms team will then also carry out their own assessment.

If you make a self referral and you qualify for a community alarm, a charge for the equipment will apply.

If you are not in a financial position to pay, there is some help available with Fairer Charging. Fairer Charging is means tested and assesses your contribution towards the cost of services in the community using the Council’s Fairer Contribution Policy based on guidance from the department of health. If you would like to be assessed, you can get a Fairer Charging Assessment Form by calling 020 8489 2369, emailing FinanceAssessmentTeam@haringey.gov.uk, or writing to:

Finance Assessment Team
Level 8
River Park House
Wood Green
N22 8HQ.

If you do not qualify for a service, you can buy equipment or services directly. For other services, products and suppliers:

• AskSara has a directory of suppliers (external link) and can give you advice on how to find and buy equipment privately. You will need to answer some questions first
• See our assistive technology page

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Who would benefit from the service?

Haringey Community Alarms service may be available to elderly people and people of any age in the community who are disabled or vulnerable and would like to feel safer, more secure and independent in their own home. The service is available to people who:

• Live alone or are frequently left alone
• Are housebound or have a need to contact medical or emergency services urgently
• Are unable to leave the house unaided
• Are a victim of crime or harassment
• Live in a home where the situation or condition of that home makes them vulnerable to accident or attack

This can include people who:

• Are at risk of falls
• Are at risk of distraction burglary (PDF - external link)
• Have been discharged from hospital and require additional support and assistance at home

There is a small weekly charge:

• Monitoring only - £4.00 per week
• Monitoring and response - £6.85 per week

You may be eligible for a reduced payment. Please ask us to arrange for a financial assessment to be carried out.

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How does the service work?

We will provide you with a Lifeline unit and personal trigger. We can also provide a range of sensors which trigger automatically. All that is required is a telephone line and an electrical power point. If you need help or assistance at any time, press the button on your personal trigger or the red button on the Lifeline and a call will be raised at our control centre.

If you do not have a landline telephone, there are lifelines that use a mobile sim card. These will have to be topped up with credit to use - it would be your responsibility to do this.

When a sensor is activated a message is sent to the monitoring centre where our trained operators take the most appropriate action. This may be to contact a family member, neighbour, doctor, emergency services or sending a member of the Emergency Response Team to visit.

• Instant response - our highly skilled operators respond to your call and take the appropriate action to get the help you need when you need it
• Personal service - friendly and dignified
• Complete reassurance - 24 hour link to the monitoring centre
• Easy Installation - wireless system so no unsightly wiring

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Customer Experience

Ms C

Ms C described the Emergency Response Officer (ERO) who visited her to install her lifeline as very helpful, with good communication skills and they made sure she understood how to use the lifeline. At 10pm on the night of 23 January, four days after the lifeline was installed, 75 year old Ms C pressed her alarm button and informed Community Alarms that she had fallen and was unable to pick herself up. Within two minutes an ambulance was called and an Emergency Officer was dispatched four minutes later to give access to the crew. In praise to the Community Alarms Team, Ms C. said:

"I am very pleased to have the alarm, the Paramedics and the Emergency Response Officer arrived within 20 minutes, the ERO arrived at the same time as the ambulance to give access to the ambulance staff. The alarm service is brilliant"

Mrs D

The Safelinq Bloq is a Telecare sensor with a GPS monitoring system that uses satellite technology to track the movements of service users. This device is suitable for people that are prone to wander away from home and unable to find their way back.

Mrs D has dementia and is prone to wandering which is very worrying for her relatives. Mrs D left her property just after 4pm on 24 May; the first alarm was raised in the control room at 4.24pm and staff began tracking her.

As soon as she went outside of her pre-determined safety zone, Community Alarms initially tried to contact her relatives to relay this information, but they were not contactable. The service continued to track Mrs D at the same time she was wandering further and further away from her home. The service was able to continuously track Mrs D and at the same time give the Police a description of the client and her exact location. Mrs D had wandered from her home in Haringey and was travelling towards Fore Street in Enfield.

The Police, using the directions given by the Safelinq Bloq transmitter located in this lady’s handbag found her at Claremont Street and returned her safe and unharmed to her property in Haringey.

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Further information

• See Community Alarm Service Equipment Available

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