‘‘Description’’ CareCalls can help to prompt any task, for example, medication, hydration or meals. It works best as an initial prompt to begin an activity but is less effective for extensive step-by-step instructions.

We recommend keeping prompts as simple and short as possible.

• CareCalls can support those managing poor short-term memory. It may be less effective for those with poor working memory (remembering the last few minutes/seconds).

• CareCalls works best for users who want to maintain their independence and are prepared to follow through on a task that is being prompted. It is less effective for those who are resisting the need to perform a task.

• CareCalls can support a single user with many different tasks throughout the day, as each message can be different and can be customised to each task.

• CareCalls can support those requiring many prompts and/or those needing those prompts to be at consistent and exact times throughout the day/week.

• The One-off reminder service can prompt one-off events such as a doctor’s appointment.text goes here

• CareCalls can help to alert people to a health emergency. It is most effective in situations where a user can’t communicate, can’t reach the phone or is unconscious.

• If users wish to have the alert functionality, they must have one or more people who can follow up if a reminder/check-in is not responded to. CareCalls does not contact emergency services or send someone over to the address ourselves.

• Users can currently receive the CareCalls service by phone or SMS. The main priority when choosing should be the personal preference of the person receiving the reminder/check-in. That said, an SMS may work better for those with hearing difficulties or anxieties around answering the phone but, otherwise, a phone call is often most effective as the sustained ring is much harder to miss than an SMS notification.

• Users must have a mobile or landline handset that is working properly, a package with a phone network provider (BT, EE, Vodafone e.t.c) and a working phone line.

• If a user has poor mobility or takes time to respond to the phone you can extend the ring time in our management dashboard.

• If the user has a call guardian call blocker (to stop unwanted calls) you can add CareCalls to a whitelist which means we can bypass it.

• The CareCalls service is not suitable for solving problems with isolation or loneliness.

You will need between 5 and 15 minutes to set up a CareCall service.

The service can start delivering immediately or you can indicate a desired start date.

You will need to provide your following information to set up a service:

1. Relation to call receiver

2. Full name

3. Email

4. Phone number(s)

You will need to provide th details of the person who will receive the service.

1. Full name

2. Phone number

3. Email (If available)

4. For health and care professionals setting up publicly funded services only: You may be asked to provide further information based on any assessment criteria provided by your employer. If you are not sure about available funding or required criteria in your area please check here.

What information do I need to set up a service and how long does it take?

This article regards the automated regular reminder/check-in service only.
For articles regarding the automated ‘One-off reminder’ service please go here.
For articles regarding the in-person service please go here.

You will need between 5 and 15 minutes to set up a service. The service can start delivering immediately or you can indicate a desired start date. You will need to provide the following information to set up a service:

Section 1: Service creator details

These are the details of the person setting up the service.

1. Relation to call receiver

2. Full name

3. Email

4. Phone number(s)

Section 2: Service receiver details

These are the details of the person who will receive the service.

1. Full name

2. Phone number

3. Email (If available)

4. For health and care professionals setting up publicly funded services only: You may be asked to provide further information based on any assessment criteria provided by your employer. If you are not sure about available funding or required criteria in your area please check here.

Section 3: Service details

These are the details of the reminder/check-ins themselves.

1. Times calls are needed

2. Days calls are needed

3. Message/s to be heard

   • We maintain an extensive list of pre-recorded/written reminders for different common purposes

   • You can record your own messages with ease. This happens at the end of the form and can be done over the phone

4. Start date (can be immediate)

5. End date (if any)

Section 4: Support network

If there is anyone else supporting the call receiver, e.g GPs, family members, neighbours e.t.c you can add their details here. We ask for:

1. Name

2. Relation to the reminder/check-in receiver

3. Phone number(s) (if available)

4. Email (if available)

Section 5: Roles

This section allows you to indicate who (from the previous section) will be involved in the service going forward and how.

1. Paying / funding (if applicable) – Who will be paying for the service. This encompasses both private and publicly funded users.

2. Recording personalised messages (if applicable) – This will only appear if you have elected for personalised messages to be recorded, we can also record personalised messages for you.

3. Receiving weekly reports (optional) – Indicate who should receive a weekly report of how the reminder/check-in receiver has responded to the service.

4. Alerts (optional) – These are the alerts that go out if, after 2 attempts, the reminder/check-in receiver does not answer.

Additional actions

Once the above details have been provided, depending on how the service has been configured, there may be some actions needed to make sure the service delivers as intended. If, during the roles section above, you indicated that these actions need to be performed by other people, we will contact them at this time.

• Personalised recordings (If applicable): If you indicated that the messages should be personalised, then you (or whoever you have indicated) will now be able to do so. Calls requiring a personalised message will not start to deliver until the message is created.

• Nuisance call blocker check (If applicable): If the service is to be delivered as a phone call and the phone in question has a nuisance call blocker, the CareCalls number will need to be whitelisted. The service will not deliver as intended if a call blocker is active and this step is not completed. To learn more about call blockers click here.

• Ring time check (If applicable): If the service is to be delivered as a phone call you (or whoever you have indicated) will be given the opportunity to change how long the phone rings for. By default, it rings for 20 seconds but this can be extended. Read this article to learn more about ring times.

• Payment details (If applicable): Read this article to establish if you (or whoever you indicate) will need to provide payment details and, if so, what details are needed.