Our community alarm scheme helps you stay at home if you are elderly or have a disability.
It is a personal alarm system that gives you the security of knowing you can call for help in an emergency. We are here if, for example, you fall and cannot get yourself up, at any time of the day or night.
How does the alarm work?
You wear the alarm as a pendant your neck or on your wrist, so it’s with you at all times. When you press the alarm, it sends a signal down your telephone line and our operator picks up your call.
Once you have signalled for help, an operator can speak to you through your alarm unit to find out what the problem is. You don't have to lift your telephone to make contact. If for any reason you can’t speak, the operator can still arrange for help.
After the operator has spoken to you, they will contact:
- Your keyholder (usually a neighbour, friend or family member)
- Mobile Emergency Care Service (MECS) or the emergency services if necessary.
If the situation is not an emergency, we will do all we can to help and advise. We may not always need to visit.
Mobile emergency care (MECS)
The Mobile Emergency Care Service (MECS) operates 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. This gives vulnerable people someone to call for help at any time of the day or night. The MECS team are who responds to you when you trigger your community alarm.
MECS wear Fife Council uniforms, identity badges, including their photograph and name.
Please do not allow anyone into your home if they do not have photographic identity.
The MECS carers are not medically trained therefore if you are injured or unwell and require medical attention they will contact the emergency services, GP, or District Nurse.
How we can help you in an emergency
The help you get will depend on what your emergency is.
We may:
- Contact your GP or emergency contacts
- Talk with you to reassure you
- Contact MECS if you have fallen and un-injured
- Call Paramedics if you are injured as MECS are not medically trained
Who can use the scheme?
You can have an alarm system fitted if you:
- Live alone
- Are at risk because of ill health, frailty, disability, sensory impairment, extreme anxiety or isolation
How do you get an alarm?
If you think you need an alarm, please use the link below or call the Social Work Contact Centre on 03451 55 15 03, to request one. We will contact you to arrange installation and will then visit you at home to install and explain how to operate the alarm.
You would normally need a landline to connect the alarm to the call system, but other options are available. We will discuss the best option when we visit you.
If more than one person in your household requires an alarm, each person requiring an alarm (pendant or wrist) must complete an individual form using the link below, or alternatively can be actioned by calling the Social Work Contact Centre. We can connect you all to the one alarm under the one cost.
You will be contacted to arrange an appointment for installation, within 5 working days.
How often do we check the equipment?
We request that you or your family, friend, keyholder do a 4-weekly test on your pendant and alarm.
How much does the community alarm cost?
The community alarm service costs £3.24 a week as well as your standard provider call rate which is charged each time you activate the community alarm. Invoices are sent out annually in May for the period of April to the following March which will be 12 equal instalments covering May to the following April inclusive, customers will be notified of this on their invoice.
If a community alarm is installed partway through the year, the customer will be sent an invoice for this period until the end of March and then will go onto the annual billing system.
See 'Paying an invoice' for how and where an invoice can be paid.
Faulty or lost community alarms and equipment
It’s important that all your community alarm equipment is working correctly. If any of your equipment stops working or is lost, please contact us on 03451 55 15 03 or email us at SW.Contactctr@fife.gov.uk
If the community alarm is not working, please make sure all telephones have been hung up correctly. Check to make sure the phone line is working and not in use. If there’s no working phone line you should contact your telephone line provider.
Please call us on 03451 55 15 03, Monday to Friday, between 9am and 5pm. If you need to call us after 5pm or over the weekend, including public holidays, please call 03451 55 00 99.
Returning your community alarm
If the community alarm is no longer required, an uplift/collection can be requested by either activating the community alarm unit or calling the Social Work contact centre 03451 55 15 03, to arrange. We need to arrange to get the community alarm returned to us. It may be that you can return it to us yourself, at your nearest Fife Council Local Office however in other circumstances, we can arrange this to be uplifted/collected.
There are two options, depending on the type of community alarm you have:
- Community alarm with Telecare we will arrange to collect this for you
- Community alarm with no Telecare, please contact the Social Work Contact Centre 03451 55 15 03, who will advise you on how to disconnect and return the unit
In all circumstances, please call us first before sending back your community alarm. We need to log all your details and make sure the correct departments know it’s being returned. We can also arrange to uplift it if you can’t return it yourself.
Please call us on 03451 55 15 03, Monday to Friday, between 9am and 5pm, to arrange to return your community alarm. You can also email the social work contact centre at SW.Contactctr@fife.gov.uk
