Social landlord Riverside has decided to axe its popular Careline service, prompting an angry response from local people.
The News & Star revealed last week that Eden Housing Association had to existing clients.
Now we can reveal that a second provider has come forward.
Artemis Domiciliary Care Ltd, based in Carlisle’s James Street, already offers a similar service to the people it cares for.
Now it is widening that out to people across the city, with its control centre due to be upgraded next week.
The response services all work in a similar way - with an alarm fitted at the person’s home connecting to a local call centre. A team is then sent out to check on the person if the alarm is triggered.
After Careline announced its closure, there were fears vulnerable and elderly residents would be left without a lifeline. It prompted local campaigners to launch a petition to save it. But now local people will soon have a choice of two services.
Louise Kelton, manager at Artemis, said: “We’ve been doing this for a while now but just on a small scale.
“I worked for Careline for about eight years. When we heard what was happening we decided to see if we can help.
“We did talk to Riverside but for some reason they decided to go with a company from Penrith.”
She said regardless of that decision, they felt there was a need out there from people across Carlisle.
“We are rolling it out. We are having our control centre upgraded next week. And because we are registered with the Care Quality Commission we can also offer personal care,” she said.
“We can provide a package that meets all their needs.”
Riverside said the decision to scrap its Careline response centre in Carlisle, resulting in 26 job losses, was part of an effort to plug a £7.5m hole in its finances following government cuts.
Eden Housing Association has since confirmed it will extend its existing emergency response service across north Cumbria, taking on around 4,000 Careline clients – most of them elderly.
The new service – provided by the Association’s Eden Independent Living (EIL) team – will be available to all Careline clients.
However, Careline staff still face redundancy.
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