A CARE company has confirmed that it is in the running to take over a service that helps elderly people stay in their own homes.

Careline – which helps about 4,000 vulnerable and elderly people – was set to become a casualty of cuts by housing association Riverside, which currently runs it.

Two companies are now, however, in the running to take over the service. Carlisle-based Artemis has confirmed that it is one of them.

Manager Louise Kelton said: “We already offer a monitoring and response service to private residents within the locality.

“Crucially, we also offer personal care which means that residents’ needs can be met by an experienced healthcare team – not just call-centre staff.

“Our service is regulated by the Care Quality Commission and we’re able to offer Careline’s customers access to professional emergency personal care, 24 hours a day. We’re confident that we can improve the response and reduce the costs.

“Trying to care for our vulnerable adults with call centre staff without a qualified response back up just doesn’t work.

“Just as the review into NHS 111 showed, when care becomes necessary, un-trained response teams cannot help without calling our already stretched emergency services.”

Last month, there was a furious response after Riverside announced plans to axe the Careline emergency response service in Carlisle as part of an effort to plug a £7.5m hole in finances.


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Supporters said that the service has been a vital part of allowing vulnerable elderly people to continue living independently.

It emerged last week that the 26 staff currently employed by Careline will lose their jobs with Riverside.

Artemis say that, should they be chosen to take over the service, they will priorities “recruitment and re-training of Careline staff”.

She said Riverside would continue to provide its Telecare Monitoring service in Cumbria which will include the installation and maintenance of Telecare equipment.

This service, known as the Riverside Helpline, is already successfully provided by the landlord to customers across the country.

Riverside say it has been forced to make cuts because of a national reduction in its budget, imposed by the Government.