Agenda item

Report from the Strategic Director of Adult Care, Housing and Public Health.

Recommendations:

That Cabinet:-

1.    Notes the outcome of the 90-day consultation exercise.

2.    Notes the requirements of the national closure of the Public Switch Telephone Network (PSTN) and the impact on Rothercare.

3.    Approves £1.7M capital investment funding to enable the purchase and installation of the new digital units, subject to approval of the Budget at Cabinet and Council in February 2024.

4.    Approves the procurement of an external provider to complete the installations for the digital switchover to enable Rothercare to maintain its current standards of service level and quality throughout the transition process.

5.    Agrees to receive a further report in the summer of 2024 detailing a new strategic approach to assistive technology and the business delivery model for a digitalised Rothercare service.

Consideration was given to the report which set out the proposals for the digitalisation of the Rothercare Service. Rothercare provided an alarm service, connected to a 24-hour call centre, that created a route to rapid assistance in an emergency. The service was available to all adult residents of Rotherham, regardless of tenure type, age, or level of disability or frailty. The service operated a 24-hour specialist call centre and mobile responder unit which provided lifeline support to some of Rotherham’s most vulnerable and isolated residents. The service also provided and distributed low level assistive technology equipment including fall detectors, clocks and medication dispensers, that had been identified to support or maintain independence. The service supported 6,911 customers in 5,646 properties. This equated to 2,845 private properties and 2,801 local authority properties.

Nationally, the Public Switch Telephone Network (PSTN) would close in December 2025. By then, every phone line in the United Kingdom would have moved to a fully digital network that used Internet Protocol (IP) across a fibre-based service, seeing the traditional analogue PSTN lines decommissioned and replaced by a fully digital infrastructure. This had substantially impacted Alarm Receiving Centres (ARC’s) such as Rothercare. Rothercare had already issued 1,647 digital units, leaving a further 4,279 units to be deployed.

The PSTN infrastructure change would impact on both service delivery and cost and was the key driver to design a new business delivery model, based around customer choice and requirements. The model would consider the continual development of technology, resources and cost. The Council had carried out a 90-day public consultation which would support the development of a new business model going forward, taking into account people’s thoughts and preferences, both in relation to service delivery and service charges.

Details of the consultation were set out in paragraphs 1.3.10 – 1.3.23 of the report. The key message throughout responses received was that Rothercare provided an excellent service which was respected and valued, giving peace of mind and reassurance to support people to live independently in their own homes across the Borough. People also commented that the service provided excellent value for money. The full comments were included at Appendix 1.

The financial impact of this project would leave the Council with an additional £1.7M funding requirement for the purchase and installation of the equipment. There was also a recurring annual revenue pressure of £381,000 relating to sim card rentals which could not be met by the service in the long term as the current Rothercare charge of £3.29 per week was insufficient to generate the income needed to fund the ongoing costs associated with the digital switchover.

A further report would be presented in the summer of 2024 detailing the new strategic approach to assistive technology and the business delivery model for the digitalised Rothercare service.

During the meeting Councillor Roche explained that the charge for Rothercare was the lowest in the region and that there was no charge for installation.

Resolved:

That Cabinet:-

1.    Notes the outcome of the 90-day consultation exercise.

2.    Notes the requirements of the national closure of the Public Switch Telephone Network (PSTN) and the impact on Rothercare.

3.    Approves £1.7M capital investment funding to enable the purchase and installation of the new digital units, subject to approval of the Budget at Cabinet and Council in February 2024.

4.    Approves the procurement of an external provider to complete the installations for the digital switchover to enable Rothercare to maintain its current standards of service level and quality throughout the transition process.

5.    Agrees to receive a further report in the summer of 2024 detailing a new strategic approach to assistive technology and the business delivery model for a digitalised Rothercare service.