Small Grant Opportunity for Third and Independent Sector Organisations – Stakeholder Engagement
What is it for?
Scottish Government’s Technology Enabled Care Programme is supporting Telecare Service Providers across the country to redesign their services, taking advantage of new technologies and service models now available.
In order to support those Providers to understand the needs of all their stakeholders, particularly those less heard voices and groups who are unlikely to participate in engagement sessions with their Health and Social Care Partnership or Housing Provider directly due to issues including physical and mental health support needs, communication including, digital skills or confidence, we would like you to carry out a stakeholder engagement session on our behalf with your members and the people who use your services and let us know what they say. We would also like to invite some of those people who take part to contribute to a slightly longer-term co-design process.
We want to hear from citizens who either use the service at the moment, or who might want to use it in the future.
What is Telecare?
Telecare is a service which is provided, usually by Health and Social Care Partnerships or Housing Providers and helps people to live more independently at home and in their community. It is sometimes referred to as a Community Alarm Service. The basic service consists of a trigger device, worn around your neck or on your wrist with a button which you can press if you have a fall, feel anxious or need other assistance. The trigger communicates with a base unit in your home, which then uses your phone line to contact an Alarm Receiving Centre (ARC). The ARC may notify either a responder service, your nominated contact person or emergency services depending on the circumstances. There are also systems used in supported or sheltered accommodation which may contact an internal central support point and/or ARC.
Other devices can be added to this including smoke, heat and CO detectors, door contacts which alert to someone leaving their home at unusual times, activity sensors which help to see if someone is coping well at home. They sometimes also include devices like GPS to prevent people from going missing. Telecare services are also looking at options for introducing consumer devices like smartwatches, voice assistants and apps.
Usually, Telecare customers pay a weekly or monthly amount for the service depending on where they live.
Who can apply?
We would like to hear from third and independent sector organisations who work directly with people who may benefit from using a telecare service or who currently use one.
We specifically want to hear from people who might not usually consider telecare as an option, perhaps because it is felt to be difficult to access, or who don’t feel that it offers them any benefit so that we can understand how to improve it.
What funding is available?
We have 20 grants of £1,500 available.
What we would expect for this is that the person from your organisation who will carry out the engagement session will have experience of doing this type of work with your members and the people who use your services.
They will attend a briefing session where we will set out what we would like to learn and how we would like you to let us know of the session outputs.
The format of the engagement sessions will be left to you to decide as the experts in your field of support, but we can offer some guidance on methods and tools which can be used.
The grant is to cover your costs for contacting your members or customers, supporting them to participate, preparation and delivery of the session and compilation and return of feedback to the Technology Enabled Care Programme.
We would also like you to discuss with your members or customers if any of them would be interested in taking part in a citizen panel to inform the longer-term co-design of telecare services. More detail will be provided on this in the briefing session.
How do we apply?
You can fill in this online form. https://forms.office.com/r/N3skyGvn10
Applications will be shortlisted and scored based on identified gaps in our previous stakeholder engagement activities to avoid duplication and ensure we hear from as wide a sector of our communities as possible.
What are the timescales?
The deadline for applications is close of business 10th June 2022.
Successful applicants will be notified by the 24th June 2022.
The briefing session will take place the following week, Tuesday 28th June 2022, from 10-12 and will be via Teams.
Invitations will be issued with grant notifications, but you should ensure that the relevant person from your organisation will be able to attend.
If successful we would expect you to undertake the engagement session and have returned the feedback to us by 3rd September 2022.
Who do I contact if I have questions?
You should contact Gillian Fyfe, Transformation Lead, Technology Enabled Care Programme on gillian.fyfe2@nhs.scot