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8th January 2020

Technology Enabled Care Services for Social Housing

Urban Foresight has been appointed as the preferred supplier on Consortium Procurement’s Framework to provide consultancy support for Technology Enabled Care Services.

The framework allows local authorities, ALMOs and associations that provide social housing to access Urban Foresight’s expertise in technology, innovation and digital transformation. This will help to ensure that properties and services are future-proofed and that housing organisations can confidently adopt new technologies to support independent living.

The framework builds on Urban Foresight’s strong track record in this field. This includes helping Peabody Group to review the opportunities to deploy smart solutions in building refurbishment and the construction of new homes. It also includes work with Sunderland City Council to identify, develop and procure a suite of in-home connected sensing devices for assisted living.

Consortium Procurement is the commercial arm of Northern Housing Consortium (NHC), which represents housing providers and partner organisations across 93% of the North of England and others throughout the UK. The Technology Enabled Case Services (TECS) framework is the fourth to be run by the consortium regarding Assistive Technology provision, but is the first to include consultancy services. The addition of consultancy was stimulated by their members, who raised a need to access independent, technology-agnostic services for researching, designing, evaluating, and deploying innovative, connected technologies to support vulnerable people to live independently.

NHC have recognised that its members require support in understanding the extent of their existing TECS provision and their relevant assets, and in developing strategic insight into potential future setups and business models. By including Urban Foresight in the framework, members can access our expert advice on emerging technologies, industry trends and our strategic insight into smart cities.

Graham Thrower, Head of Infrastructure & Investment at Urban Foresight said: “TECS is a pressing concern for many local authorities and housing organisations. Not only is Adult Social Care one of the largest budget items, but the upcoming Digital Switchover will see many existing analogue systems become obsolete from 2025, including common Telecare systems like pendant alarms and fall detectors.

“We want to help housing organisations and their delivery partners to effectively navigate the challenge of using technology to care for the growing populations of elderly and vulnerable residents. The Northern Housing Consortium framework is an excellent opportunity for us to provide support quickly and effectively that is responsive to these fast changing needs.”

Other suppliers on the framework are able to provide member organisations with equipment, installation and maintenance support and call monitoring services for TECS. Urban Foresight is looking forward to working with these innovative providers.

 

 

Header image by Brandon Griggs on Unsplash

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