Vulnerable residents can expect to benefit from a new community digital alarm by the end of 2025 once a preferred supplier has been found. 

It comes after West Dunbartonshire Council agreed a budget of £924,000 to install the new system over a ten-year period in March 2022. 

An update was presented to members of the council on Wednesday, October 30 as communication providers across the UK replace the technology they use to provide fixed landlines. 

The upgrade nationwide is expected to be complete by January 2027, but providers within the West Dunbartonshire area have already started transitioning their customers to digital lines with a target date of completion for December 2025.

The HSCP provides community alarms to vulnerable residents within the community to help them live safely in their own homes and ensure they can request assistance if required.

There are around 1800 individual alarms in the community designed to work on the traditional phone line which is why the council needs to move to a digital community alarm model.

The issue was raised at the most recent West Dunbartonshire Council meeting.

Council leader Martin Rooney said: “The community alarm system seems quite innocuous when you just talk about it but it is actually helping 1800 residents to live safely in their homes. 

“It is essentially an emergency service which is vital to them and elderly people if they do get into trouble for example if they have a bad fall, their injury could be life threatening.

“It is a great service and a lifeline for the people who use it.”

It is hoped that the transition from analogue to digital alarms should be complete by the end of 2025, as many residents have already been transitioned to digital lines by their providers.

Councillor Fiona Hennebry added: “The community alarm service is literally a lifesaving service which ensures that vulnerable elderly people can get emergency assistance if they have an accident at home.

“Many elderly people live on their own, so they don’t always have someone at hand to offer assistance.

"I have some insight into this as my mother was a mobile attendant and I know that her and her colleagues have had to deal with lots of emergency situations, like assisting pensioners who have fallen, and summoning emergency services when they have experienced a medical episode that requires the casualty to attend accident and emergency.

“The community alarm system also gives family members peace of mind knowing that their loved ones will get emergency help when they have an accident at home.

“I want to thank the community alarm team for the great work they do and I’m looking forward to seeing the new digital community system being implemented over the coming year.”  

The council will now go out to tender so the alarms can be upgraded.