Accessibility Statement
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Living room

There is a range of equipment available to help you feel comfortable in your living room. From making changes to your chairs and sofas to make them more suitable for your mobility to technology to help you stay safe and connected there are a lot of options available to you.

Equipment can be privately purchased from a wide range of retailers both online and on the high street.  If you feel that you need further information or advice, please contact William Merritt Centre for impartial and professional advice and assessment, or call Adult Social Care on 0113 222 4401 to make a referral for assessment with the Leeds Equipment Service.

Back to the house

Telecare and alarms

A telecare alarm system can help you live safely and independently at home. This includes a system of alarms and sensors that can raise the alarm to both caregivers and 24-hour monitoring centers to prompt help to respond. The most recognizable form of telecare is a pendant alarm, which is a wearable button which will summon help when the wearer finds themselves in difficulties, for example if they have a fall.  

There are also a wide variety of sensors that can be used to raise an automatic alert. They are linked to an alarm unit that can either alert a caregiver in the same property or connect to an external response centre. 

  • bracelet alarms 
  • chair sensors 
  • GPS watches 
  • Medication and memo reminders 
  • Smoke and carbon monoxide detectors 

Some providers of telecare alarms also offer mobile response services to respond to an emergency. If you sign up to mobile response, a key safe is likely to be required to enable the responders to access your property.  

If you choose not to connect your unit to a response centre then it is important that you have at least two contacts who can attend in the event of an emergency. 

Leeds Tele Care can provide 24-hour monitoring of alarms and sensors, which sends an alert to the response centre, where staff can get you the appropriate help. 

Find out more about Leeds Telecare  

You can also buy in these services from other providers. You can find different suppliers by  

Find out more about staying safe in your home 

 

Base Unit

Telecare packages are powered by a main unit which will be installed in the property. Sensors and alarms included in a telecare package are connected to this main unit. 

Benefits

Call Centres are staffed 24-hours a day 365 days a year and follow a pre-agreed procedure of who to alert in the event of an emergency. The base unit often provides two-way communication, so external contacts and speak directly to the person in trouble.

Leeds City Council provides different telecare packages to meet your specific requirements connecting sensors to one central alarm unit.   

Things to consider

Call-centre monitoring can be an expensive option. 

Telecare does not provide family members or carers with ongoing information or the opportunity to check in without disturbing their loved ones. You can consider other forms of smart monitoring, using personal assistants like Alexa and Google Assist.  Find out more in our Living Room.

Changes to the UK's telephone network may affect your telecare choices. Check how the change to Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) might impact a product with the supplier. Find out more about the changes to UK landline telephones. 

Telecare is a chargeable service.