Unreliable personal emergency alarms for people requiring assistance
First to latest report 5 May 2021 — 6 Jun 2024
Reports that mention this concern
3
Times this concern has been raised
6
Stated actions linked to this concern
8
What this concern includes
Includes failures of personal emergency alarm devices and their dedicated support arrangements, including charging, testing, serviceability, repair, replacement and availability for people who rely on them to summon emergency or welfare assistance.
What is not included
Excludes patient monitoring alarms, bed-exit alarms, call bells and other alarms whose primary function is to alert staff automatically rather than enable a person to summon assistance.
Excludes generic telecare-service governance or alarm-call handling failures unless the personal emergency alarm's availability or operation is itself deficient.
Excludes ordinary equipment maintenance or battery failures unrelated to a personal emergency alarm used to summon assistance.
Excludes failures occurring after a functioning personal emergency alarm has successfully raised an alert, including delayed staff or emergency-service response.
Trends
Reports over time
Reports mentioning this concern, over time
Reports about this concern issued each year.
* 2026 is projected from reports observed to 7 Sep 2026.
Most frequent recipients
Most frequent recipients
Reports about this concern sent to each recipient.
Leeds City Council1
London Borough of Hackney1
Options For Care Limited1
Supreme Care Services Limited1
Private limited company2
English metropolitan district council1
London borough council1
Reports and published responses 3 reports
See individual reports that have raised this concern, and the actions taken in response
Inner North London
Concerns raised3
Failure to replace or repair reported-broken wrist alarms
Failure of attending carers to escalate reported wrist-alarm faults
Lack of training, instruction or guidance for carers on testing wrist alarms
This report raised 3 other concerns. They are not shown here because they do not form part of this recurring concern.
Linked responses
Supreme Care Services Limited
TEC Quality Ltd
Stated actions An action is something a respondent says it has done, is doing, or plans to do in response to the concern raised.2
Supreme Care Services Limited
Report faulty pendants to the responsible telecare provider and commissioning local authority.
TEC Quality Ltd
Audit TEC service providers and provide independent UKAS-accredited certification against the Quality Standards Framework.
Respondent positions A position is what a respondent says about the concern when they do not describe a specific action.3
Supreme Care Services Limited
Supplying, maintaining, repairing or replacing faulty pendants falls outside the domiciliary care provider’s role and contractual requirements.
Outside remitThe respondent said that this matter was outside its role or authority.
Supreme Care Services Limited
The telecare provider is responsible for supplying, routinely testing, monitoring, maintaining, repairing and replacing faulty pendants.
Redirects responsibilityThe respondent said that another organisation was responsible for deciding or taking action.
Supreme Care Services Limited
The local authority should take primacy to act and ensure repair or an alternative is commissioned for faulty pendants.
Redirects responsibilityThe respondent said that another organisation was responsible for deciding or taking action.
West Yorkshire Eastern
Concerns raised1
Failure to check the availability and operation of personal alarm systems before vulnerable people return home
This report raised 7 other concerns. They are not shown here because they do not form part of this recurring concern.
Linked response
Leeds City Council
Stated actions An action is something a respondent says it has done, is doing, or plans to do in response to the concern raised.3
Leeds City Council
Develop and deliver lessons-learned training for Mental Health Unit staff covering telecare, discharge planning, equipment checks, capacity recording and related safety processes.
Leeds City Council
Establish a task-and-finish group to develop a discharge checklist covering utilities, safety equipment, environmental and occupational therapy assessments, and discharge-day home visits where indicated.
Leeds City Council
Develop and publish guidance for the Conversation Record pro-forma covering medical needs, equipment and referrals, risk assessment, mitigation plans, service-user views, and documented capacity decisions.
Birmingham and Solihull
Concerns raised2
Failure to ensure staff awareness and training on the PIT alarm charging policy
Failure to ensure PIT alarms are charged and operational
Linked response
Options for Care
Stated actions An action is something a respondent says it has done, is doing, or plans to do in response to the concern raised.3
Options for Care
Reinforce the PIT alarm procedures and security lead arrangements through staff meetings.
Options for Care
Operate a security lead role each shift to check, issue, replace, recover, record and charge PIT alarms.
Options for Care
Use clinical staff supervision sessions to reinforce PIT alarm fault reporting, replacement access, security lead responsibilities and alarm testing.
Respondent positions A position is what a respondent says about the concern when they do not describe a specific action.1
Options for Care
Existing changes at Dartmouth House are considered sufficient to meet the Regulation 28 requirements concerning PIT alarms and staff training.
Existing arrangements considered sufficientThe respondent said that existing arrangements were sufficient, so no further action was needed.
Actions and positions describe what organisations say in published responses. Implementation is not independently verified.
Actions and positions describe what organisations say in published responses. Implementation is not independently verified.