105,000 calls to emergency service for "reassurance"

Wednesday, 4th July 2012

New research released by leading telehealthcare provider, Tunstall Emergency Response, found that nearly 50 per cent of over 212,000 calls to its health monitoring service in 2011 were for 'reassurance'.

With Cardiovascular disease the most common cause of death in Ireland, accounting for 36% of all deaths*, the highest incidence of health related emergency calls to the service were heart problems, accounting for 35 per cent of all calls. This was followed by calls in relation to diabetes at 13 per cent and dementia at 1.5 per cent.

While Tunstall Emergency Response's telehealthcare services provide the remote monitoring of a person's health and wellbeing, including instant response to emergencies, the overwhelming majority of calls were non-emergency related 'reassurance' calls. The company defines these calls as non-emergency scenario's including individuals anxious about a noise or incidence outside their property to someone living alone wishing to speak to someone. Calls span from older people to those with special needs or with debilitating illness to those residing in group homes or community settings.

Wexford-based Tunstall Emergency Response provides expert telehealthcare solutions to over 35,000 Irish customers and their families across Ireland. Its services include the monitoring of people's health and wellbeing in order to support people to live as full and independent a life as possible.

"Given the prevalence in Ireland, the high rate of calls in relation to heart problems was expected, while our finding of half of all calls being for reassurance was surprising. These calls would include general non-emergency concerns to just having a chat with someone. Our team would understand that many contacting our centre are lonely and some people would have not had a conversation with another person for days or even weeks" said James Doyle, Director, Tunstall Emergency Response.

"While our service includes instant response in emergencies, it also includes the monitoring of a person or their loved ones health and well-being. We are here to support older people, people with dementia and physical disabilities and other long-term needs to live independently, and these findings prove that often just a chat or reassurance that we are here gives real peace of mind to our callers."

Tunstall Emergency Response is Ireland's leading provider of telecare services to over 35,000 Irish customers. The company offers over 100 personal and home telehealthcare solutions for a range of needs from private home care to services for hospitals, healthcare clinics and community groups. See http://www.emergencyresponse.ie .