TEC Newsletter – Christmas Edition 2025
Hello and welcome to the Christmas edition of your TEC newsletter! As the year draws to a close, we hope you’re enjoying the festive spirit don’t forget to take a break, sip some hot chocolate (with a splash of Baileys), and maybe sneak in a mince pie or two!
Big things are coming, but let’s take a moment to look back at the highlights of an amazing summer!
Roadshow 2025
Care Technology Awards
Stock Level updates
It’s not just equipment…
App Directory
Getting to know you
Case Study
Product Overview
ROADSHOW 2025 – What a Fantastic Month!
September was an incredible month for the TEC team as we successfully delivered our annual roadshow events across the county. After last year’s single event at the Chelmsford Racecourse, which drew over 400 TEC Heads and received glowing feedback, we returned to a more localised approach, and it paid off!
This year, we visited venues in Harlow, Basildon, Chelmsford, Colchester and met 300 current TEC prescribers and a whole host of newcomers.
Each venue buzzed with activity as attendees enjoyed provider showcases, in-house experts, case studies, networking opportunities, live demonstrations, and exhibits, all topped off with great refreshments and even a few prizes!
The feedback has been overwhelmingly positive, with many praising the chance to see the latest innovations in Care Technology up close and connect with peers and experts.
A huge thank you to everyone who joined us and made these events such a success. If you missed out, don’t worry, there’s plenty more to come! Stay tuned for updates on future TEC events. Watch this space!
For any questions or to stay involved, contact us at CareTECService@essex.gov.uk.
Care Technology Awards 2025 – Celebrating Excellence!
We are thrilled to announce the winners of this year’s Annual Care Technology Awards, marking yet another record-breaking year for the Care Technology service. These awards celebrate colleagues who have gone above and beyond to make a real difference to the adults we support through innovative use of care technology.
Here are this year’s outstanding winners:
- TEC Innovation Award – Congratulations to Amanda Gazzard
Her commitment to continuous improvement and ability to transfer vision into meaningful actions have really made a difference to many of our service users
- Outstanding Individual Contribution Award – Melissa Young and Carl Klingenspor
Melissa is one of our top prescribers in Essex and is always promoting tec with adults and their families
Carl went above and beyond when discovering a fall during a home visit
- Individual Customer Service Award – Leanne Childs and Jazmin Crook
Leanne is a team leader and call handler at Carecall 24/7 and is always willing to go the extra mile to make sure our customers are safe and her team members are happy and well trained.
Jazmin is part of the customer service team at Livity Life. She receives continuous praise from clients for her warmth professionalism and unwavering commitment to their wellbeing
Thank you to everyone who submitted nominations and helped us celebrate the incredible work happening across our teams. Your efforts continue to drive innovation and improve lives every day!
STOCK LEVEL UPDATE
Please note that although some items may show a stock level of 0, we do have stock available for all required items. You can still proceed with your order, and it will be placed on a waitlist. Our customer service team will ensure the order is processed and installed as soon as possible.
If you have an urgent order and the stock shows 0, kindly place your order and email us at essex.tech@livitylife.co.uk. This will be prioritised as an urgent request and handled accordingly.
We are actively working to resolve this issue and apologise for any inconvenience caused.
Thank you for your understanding and continued support!
IT’S NOT JUST EQUIPMENT…
Using Connect you can order all kinds of TEC to help support the adults you are working with, however, what you may not know is we also have options for assessments. Here is a summary of what we can offer:
OT Assessment
Our partners at Livity Life have two Occupational Therapists on site who can support you with making informed decisions on more complex situations. They can carry out a join assessment with you at the adult’s home to get a clear idea of what may be possible regarding TEC supporting them achieve their goals.
Epilepsy Assessments
The Livity Life OT will work with you, the adult, and their friends or family in making informed decision on the kind of Epilepsy equipment available, that will support them and their networks in staying safe, while helping them to manage their condition.
STAT Assessment
STAT or Short-Term Assessment Tool is a piece of equipment that will go into a consenting adult’s home and monitor their movement for up to six weeks. Using a combination of motion, door and plug sensors, the STAT will paint a full picture of how someone is coping 24 / 7, allowing you to make a fully informed decision on what level of care is needed. See product overview for more information on this.
Scheme reviews
Essex has dozens of housing schemes across the county caring for adults with a higher or more complex set of care needs and TEC can be a big part in supporting independence and safety for residents. Our OT can support you in reviewing each resident’s needs independently as one piece of work. where possible we look for equipment that can be joined up, shared or used to support multiple residents. A scheme review can make this daunting task a reality.
APP DIRECTORY
The App Directory is an organised collection of wellbeing, mental health, and lifestyle digital apps for Essex-based practitioners to embed digital tools in your social care work. This app is suitable for practitioners and should be used as a guide when recommending digital apps. Key benefits include
- Digital apps categorised by alphabet and category
- Encourage digitisation in social care work
- Cut down research time when searching for apps
With the App Directory, you can now browse through wellbeing, mental health, and lifestyle digital apps when thinking about digital recommendations for your person. Access through your phone (Android and iOS compatible) or through your web browser!
Please follow this link or QR code for more information and access to the App Directory https://www.essexproviderhub.org/care-technology/app-directory/
Getting to know you
This month we have had a chat with one of our TEC partner superheroes, Laura Lew who is the new Occupational Therapist at Livity Life. Here’s your chance to get to know a little bit about her.
- What work plans do you have coming up that excite you? The TEC roadshow next summer and in the meantime, working on our new videos (coming soon!)
- What’s your go-to karaoke belter? TLC Waterfalls (rap version of course)
- What item of TEC do you use in your daily life and couldn’t go without, and why? Smart lighting, because using light switches manually is so 1995, and Alexa for music (when it isn’t being commandeered by my 2 and 4 year olds!)
- Boxset recommendation? Father Ted, Derry Girls, Bad Sisters, Motherland and Breaking Bad.
- How do you like your eggs? Chocolate, wrapped in foil
Case study – Wearable Community careline equipment
We often get requests from prescribers about how to manage someone’s safety when out in the community without infringing on their independence. A careline package will cover you when at home but what about when you want to head out and about independently? The following pair of case studies show how this is possible with TEC:
Sandy, a 91-year-old living in rural West Essex, faced challenges due to poor mobility and cataracts. Despite these limitations, she wished to continue caring for her chickens and sheep but feared falling. A GPS tracker was installed with her friend as the responder, providing reassurance and enabling Sandy to maintain her daily routine safely.
Sandra, aged 80, lives alone following the loss of her husband and lives with Parkinson’s disease. Concerned about falls, SW and her son agreed to use the Zinwatch Zinmobile device. This solution allows Sandra to remain independent while giving her son peace of mind.
Product overview – Short Term Assessment Tool (STAT) - Andi by 2iC Care
Andi is a new smart care system we are utilising as a Short Term Assessment Tool which will helps professional understand what is happening in a property when family or carers are not there. We will be using this platform to support assessments to gain insight into a person's behaviours and routines when home alone.
What is Andi?
- Andi helps people stay safe and independent at home.
- It works proactively – spotting small changes before they become big problems.
- Andi learns about a person’s daily routines and wellbeing.
- If something changes, it alerts carers early.
How does it work?
- Andi uses sensors (motion, door, plug) to see how someone is coping at home.
- This gives a 24/7 picture of their routines when carers are not there.
- It helps us adjust care packages to determine the right sized care package.
What will you see?
- You won’t scroll through lots of data.
- Andi uses AI to summarise each day.
- You get short, clear updates about routines and behaviours.
- Showing the real concerns quickly.
How to refer someone
- As mentioned in the above article, Fill in the referral form in the assessment section in Connect.
- Livity Life will contact you with next steps.
