Owner of Emergency Response (Wexford) wrestling with “unsustainable debt burden”

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The UK-based private equity owner of Wexford personal alarm supplier Emergency Responsehas been wrestling with an “unsustainable debt burden” according to a report in the Sunday Times (UK – subscription access).

 

Wexford-based Emergency Response Ltd, supplier of personal alarms for the elderly is 100% owned by the Tunstall Healthcare Group.

 

The UK-based Tunstall Healthcare Group, a global provider of personal alarms and telecare, was purchased by private equity firm, Charterhouse in 2008.

 

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Emergency Response is 100% owned by the global Tunstall Healthcare Group, according to the group’s latest financial statement (2016) p.46.

 

The Sunday Times reports that Charterhouse bought Tunstall the UK-based manufacturer of panic buttons and bed sensors “anticipating a boom in demand from an ageing population”. However, according to the report “an explosion in competing technology has made some of its gadgets obsolete”. This has resulted in Tunstall being “forced to relinquish half its shares in a costly debt deal”. [My Emphasis]

 

Telehealth & Telecare Aware has a good write up on the debt refinancing, noting that “…our Readers who’ve followed Tunstall’s history since the Charterhouse purchase in 2008 for £530 million will not be surprised, only that this development took so long. The cold facts are that the company has been wrestling with a stunning debt burden that grew from £1.2bn in 2015 [TTA 15 Apr 16] to the Times report of £1.7bn at the end of last September…”.

 

Editor’s Note: As Business Development Manager of Ireland’s longest established telecare company TASK Community Care, this Editor is well aware of the “explosion in competing technology” that the Sunday Times claims has made some of Tunstall’s “gadgets” obsolete. Indeed one of the benefits of working for an independently owned (100% Irish) telecare company such as TASK, is that because we are not tied to using equipment from suppliers such as Tunstall, we regularly get to test a range of healthcare and elderly alarm equipment from local and international technology companies. This gives us the flexibility to chose the most appropriate personal alarms, telecare and assistive technologies for people in Ireland with high support needs. If the equipment doesn’t make the grade, we don’t supply it. It also gives us an edge on assessing when new telecare ‘innovations’ being marketed by equipment suppliers, are not necessarily more suitable than existing ‘tried and tested’ solutions.

 

One of the benefits of working for an independently owned (100% Irish) telecare company such as TASK Community Care, is that because we are not tied to using equipment from suppliers such as Tunstall, we regularly get to test a range of healthcare and elderly alarm equipment from local and international technology companies… If the equipment doesn’t make the grade, we don’t supply it.

 


For information on TASK Community Care’s personal alarm & telecare equipment please Tel: 01 843 5889. If you would prefer that TASK give you a call, you can also request this using their online contact form. TASK supplies, installs & provides 24-hour monitoring for personal alarms, telecare equipment & other assistive technologies.