The Community Alarm Service installs a pendant alarm in your home which, when pressed, contacts our response centre to notify us that you need help.
Help is available at the press of a button whenever you need it 24 hours a day, every day of the year.
Our response centre operators are trained to assess your situation and to make any necessary arrangements on your behalf.
We can contact the emergency services, and arrange for a GP, district nurse, next of kin, or named key holder to visit or help you.
Community alarms are a valuable source of help for people of any age. Many people can benefit from the service, including people with long-term health needs, disabilities, restricted mobility, who live alone or who have special needs of any kind.
The service is available to anyone living in Cambridge.
Installing the alarm
An alarm unit is easily connected to your telephone and an electric socket. The alarm can be installed within days of being requested.
All you need is a modern plug-in telephone socket and an electric socket within eight feet of the telephone socket on the same or adjacent wall.
Key safes
If you do not have at least three key holders living within a 20-minute drive of your home, you will need to have a key safe installed at your property.
A key safe is a small wall-mounted key-storage system that can hold up to five keys.
Key safes have a combination lock which you set to your own chosen code. This allows instant access to responding personnel in an emergency situation.
Charges
Installation is free within the city boundary. However, there is a quarterly charge for the ongoing service. Payments can be made by cheque or by setting up a direct debit. Charges for the service are reviewed each April.
The charges for 2011, taking into account the rise in VAT to 20%, are:
- quarterly lease charge: £70.82 (£59.02 without VAT) — this works out as approximately £5.45 per week (£4.54 without VAT)
- quarterly key safe lease charge: £2.21 (£1.84 without VAT) — this works out as approximately £0.17 per week (£0.14 without VAT)
Additional support
We can also refer you to the Assistive Telecare Technology team should you require any additional assistive equipment — such as fall detectors, sensor monitors or flood detectors — at no extra charge.
Contact us
Email independent.living@cambridge.gov.uk or telephone 01223 457648 if you have any questions.
