Tunstall Group Ltd.

11/09/2022 | News release | Distributed by Public on 11/09/2022 13:18

RBKC Community Alarm Service | Tunstall Monitoring Services

London Calling | How Tunstall Response help Royal Borough of Kensington & Chelsea's Community Alarm Service

Nov 9, 2022

Tunstall Response offers a wide range of services, including monitoring on behalf of other organisations. Kensington and Chelsea Council is one of these, with Tunstall Response hosting its Community Alarm Service. The Team tells us more.

Our Community Alarm Service (CAS) supports around 2,000 residents who live independently in their home with the safety and security of a 24/7 responder service, whereby, with the activation of a pendant worn around their neck, a resident can alert the team if they need help and they will receive an immediate response.

CAS has been working with Tunstall Response for almost ten years, and they help manage our alarm calls from residential schemes and individual's homes. Many of the staff from both organisations have been working together for a long time, so we have a great understanding of how to work together and communicate. We meet regularly, have a really open approach to working together, and, most importantly, share the same values in regards to the high standard of service we provide to our residents.

There have been occasions on night shift where we've barely had any alerts through, and it's because the team at Response have been so effective at dealing with calls before they reach us. For example, there might be calls that can be referred to Housing Repairs straight away, or it might be a matter that can be logged and wait until the morning, like a lightbulb needing changing. Some of our residents have disturbed sleep patterns and just want someone to talk to for reassurance at night.

A year or two ago a call had come through to Response from a resident in one of our flats. The alert had been raised by their carbon monoxide detector, and this resident was vulnerable and unable to exit their property alone. The Response operator also heard a smoke detector on the call, although this was not the detector in the resident's property. The operator not only alerted us, but also called the Fire Service. It turned out there was a fire in the flat below, and the actions of that operator may well have saved someone's life.

As with any partnership, especially one dealing with potentially life-threatening situations 24/7, there are occasional issues, but these are always dealt with quickly and without the need to escalate the matter any further.

Aside from Response, we also work with other areas of the Tunstall business from time to time. Recently, we needed the services of FirstLine technical support and our issue was resolved really quickly by someone who clearly knew the system inside out. The sales team is fantastic too; our account manager always responds to us as soon as possible and the last order we placed with the internal sales team arrived well ahead of schedule.

We trust Tunstall Response to be both professional and have empathy, and this can be a fine balance sometimes. We operate as a single team and have great support from all areas of the Tunstall business. At the end of the day, the resident just needs our help and it's important that, to them, the service is seamless and available whenever they need it the most.