With so many of us having to spend enforced time at home alone during the pandemic, social isolation has become something we can all identify with.

However, for the past 15 years a tech company has been providing innovative products and services to reduce social isolation among older and vulnerable people, with the benefits this brings only becoming more clear over the last two years.

Entrepreneur James Batchelor had already co-founded a number of web and tech-based businesses when he turned his attention to setting up Alertacall.

Like so many businesses, its conception was driven by personal necessity.

When James’ grandmother Eveline, who was 86 at the time, was convalescing following a broken arm his family wanted to keep in daily contact to make sure she was ok.

However, stridently independent Eveline was totally against the idea of wearing an alarm pendant to call for help in an emergency, and did not like the idea of waiting round for James to call every morning.

In response James made a device which enabled her to simply press a button each morning and which the family could monitor remotely to see she was up and about.

Eveline was in control and if she did not press the button her family could ring her to check on her.

This disarmingly simple idea spawned Alertacall, with tens of thousands of older and vulnerable people - both living at home or in supported accommodation - now using the ‘OKEachDay’ button.

The product is in use by housing associations and retirement complex providers all over the UK, with Alertacall’s highly trained staff contacting users if they do not press their ‘OKEachDay’ button and, if necessary, raising the alarm with family members, housing providers or medical professionals.

Because users know that by not pressing it they are guaranteed a call from someone, it also provides an opportunity for valuable social interaction, with Alertacall's team members having conversations with hundreds of people each day.

Alertacall now employs 105 people, almost evenly split between its head office in Windermere and another on Winwick Street in Warrington.

James says the ‘OKEachDay’ button is more effective than wall mounted alarm systems or even those that people wear.

“The fact is lots of people simply will not wear an alarm or, if they have a fall, they can end up lying on it and unable to use it and they definitely can’t get up to pull a cord or a press button on the wall,” he says.

“And, just like my grandma, lots of people resent the idea of having to wear an alarm all the time. Simply pressing the button allows them to take a simple action which then leaves them free to go about their business unencumbered for the rest of the day. Ultimately, it's about controlling access to daily contact with someone who cares.”

The products have won the endorsement of former TV presenter and campaigner for older people Dame Esther Rantzen, who sits on Alertacall’s advisory board alongside former Liberal Democrat MP and Minister for Care and Support Sir Norman Lamb.

Warrington Guardian:

This year Alertacall’s work also earned it the Queen’s Award for Enterprise: Innovation, considered to be the most prestigious official award for business in the UK.

While the pandemic brought the issue of isolation into particular focus, James says another development on the horizon will also make Alertacall’s technology particularly valuable.

In 2025 BT plans to switch off the old analogue telephone network, replacing it with a faster digital system that uses internet technologies.

The result will be that many devices which use the phone system - including traditional help buttons and emergency pull cords - will become unreliable or cease to work entirely.

Over the years, the ‘OKEachDay’ device has gone through a range of iterations and now comes in the form of a touchscreen, which can work off Wifi or an any network SIM card that is included with it.

James says this bypasses issues thrown up by the switch to digital in 2025 and also offers a number of other benefits.

In particular, it can be used by housing providers to post news or video updates for residents, as well as for residents to communicate with each other or receive video calls.

As the need for its products and services grows, Alertacall is focused on increasing its number of users by 300 per cent in the next five years.

"If societally we are going to overhaul the technology, we should be using this as an opportunity to have more contact with older people and not less - that is what we are about, regular two-way communication," says James.

"The country is waking up to the fact that loneliness and isolation has profoundly negative impacts upon people's mental and physical wellbeing. Retirement village operators or organisations that build sheltered housing now want to find a better way to communicate with their customers.”

He says while there are many examples of older people who use tablets and smartphones there are also many who are not digitally savvy at all.

"A huge number of older people do not have smartphones and particularly people from more challenged socio demographic backgrounds, the kind of people who are living in social housing," he says. "If you're a housing association and you want to get a message out to 2000 people it's not easy at the moment. The right technology in people's homes can fix the problem.”

However, a lot of thought has to go into how you introduce a touchscreen device to people who may have never used one in their life.

“Alertacall is all about finding the sweet spot between functionality and making sure people can engage with the device without it being a scary prospect,” says James.

“The technology needs to be very clever and effective, but not intimidating.”

As well as providing the touchscreen and ‘OKEachDay’ service, Alertacall also installs WiFi systems in buildings to ensure the devices can be used for unlimited video calling while the any network SIM card guards against loss of service due to outages or other issues.

It also provides a video door entry system for shared accommodation, which lets people use the touchscreen to see and talk to visitors at communal entries before letting them in, not only increasing security and safety but also allowing them to do it from their armchair instead of walking to a wall-mounted intercom system.

“That’s something that’s very simple but is also transformational for many people,” says James.

"We feel that we've spent the last 10 years building a fabulous company with great people with great products and services, making the company profitable, making the company financially resilient and putting the structure in place for growth.

“A real focus for us now is intense people development and investment in finding new people to join our team to help us support this period of growth.

"Our mission statement is to help as many people as possible feel safe, connected and informed, so that means we can never help enough. We always want to help more. There is a commercial imperative to grow the business, but we actually have a moral imperative to get this into the hands of people because it makes their lives better.”