A magazine giving information and advice for carers, supported by VASL, Voluntary Action South Leicestershire.

• A Website magazine giving information and advice for carers, supported by VASL, Voluntary Action South Leicestershire.

As you may be aware, there is strong evidence that telecare can enable people to live independently for longer within their own homes; Harborough Lifeline is directly provided by the Council and can support residents across the Harborough district and in surrounding areas who:

• Have a history of falls

• Have dementia or a similar condition

• Have been recently discharged from hospital

• Have an ongoing illness that may affect their well-being

• Are older, who live alone, or who are alone for long periods

• Or who would otherwise benefit from knowing that help can be provided quickly and easily in an emergency.

We believe that Harborough Lifeline offers an especially good service because it is local and provided by a small team who can thus offer genuinely personalised support. We provide the alarm system on a 'rental' basis which means that users do not have to worry about arranging or paying for maintenance, repairs or replacement if there is a technical problem.

Harborough Lifeline also offers a range of optional services such as holding medical records, welfare calls, recording key safe codes et cetera as part of the total package.

We also provide services to Housing Providers that may have sheltered accommodation, especially small charities such as those that manage alms houses; we can also offer Out of Hours response and Lone Working services to other Public Sector agencies and charities.

Another service that we provide to groups that might benefit from having a Lifeline unit is a talk and demonstration of the system, from button press to an operator answering the call and speaking to the group over the unit. We find that this allows people to make an informed decision as to whether or not the service is right for them.