BACKGROUND TO THE QSF
Background to the increasing relevance of adopting standards:
The Ronald Volante House of Commons Debate
Following the tragic death of a telecare service user in 2015, the Department of Health has urged Technology Enabled Care (TEC) commissioners to procure only from QSF certified providers and urged that TEC services should become certified. More information can be found here https://hansard.parliament.uk/commons/2017-02-21/debates/DC76A1B5-2048-4671-9EF3-8A60D6B40661/CommunityAlarmServicesSocialHousing
By working with government bodies and national TEC organisations we have ensured that the QSF meets all commissioning standards.
Our UKAS ISO/EIC 17065 accreditation ensures absolute impartiality. Continuing validation of our audit process ensures objectivity and forms the backbone of QSF development.
The National Fire Chiefs Council
Research by London Fire Brigade has shown that in recent years there have been 33 fatal fire cases and 56 fire casualty cases involving telecare.
These were as a result of things such as:
• Smoke/Fire Detection not linked to telecare, where it would have made a difference
• Over-reliance and failure of pendants/manual triggers in life critical situations
• Significant call handling delays by Alarm Receiving Centre/Fire Alarm Monitoring Organisations.
The 33 fatal fires over the past five years in London, which equates to one preventable fatality every six months were all down to similar circumstances.
At this current rate there are likely be 20 additional preventable fire deaths by 2028 unless action is taken.
The circumstances outlined above have led the National Fire Chiefs Council to endorse the Quality Standards Framework, which is aligned with their fire prevention work. They have written to all Telecare monitoring services to advise that they should sign up to their Connection Agreement, abide by their code of Practice for Unwanted fire Signals and become certified to the QSF. More information can be found here:
https://www.nationalfirechiefs.org.uk/write/MediaUploads/NFCC%20Guidance%20publications/Protection/AFA/Connection_Agreement_guidance_note.pdf
The TSA and TEC Quality continues to work with the Fire and Ambulance services to ensure that the QSF is robust and helps to reduce the risk to services and service users.
Association of Ambulance Chief Executives (AACE)
TEC Quality is now working very closely with AACE, to develop a call handling Triage tool as well as a responder assessment tool. As with the fire services, AACE are keen to reduce the number of unnecessary calls they receive, which they feel is contributed to by Telecare services and the way they report incidents to them.
The work we are doing with NFCC and AACE will be included in the QSF audit and will assist with your interactions with them.
