Guide to Pendant Alarms

A personal pendant alarm is a device that allows you to call for emergency help at the press of a button. They can typically be worn either around your wrist like a watch or on a lanyard that you wear around your neck.

Personal alarms are used every day by thousands of people across the UK who are reassured to feel independent in their own homes. With a pendant alarm, if you start to feel unwell or have an accident, you can reach out for help at the press of a button.

When you press the button, a pendant alarm sends a signal to your paired base unit, a call is placed immediately to an emergency contact or, in cases like ours, a dedicated care team that operates 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

Pendant alarms keep you safe at home and give peace of mind to you and your loved ones, knowing that help is always at hand.

Pendant alarms are simple yet effective devices that can save lives. They typically feature a push-button that, when pressed, sends a wireless signal to a matching base unit in the near vicinity.

The base unit, which typically comes bundled with a pendant alarm, acts as a phone and places a call to an emergency contact. Using the built-in speakerphone, you then speak to the person on the other end to get the help that you need.

The best pendant alarm providers will program the device for you before it is dispatched, so it’s ready to use out of the box straight away.

If you live alone or don’t have emergency contacts nearby who can get to you in a hurry, a pendant alarm could connect you to a 24/7 monitoring service for help – these are called ‘careline services’.

You can order a pendant alarm from a careline service like Telecare24, and rest assured knowing that your base unit will alert a care team who are just seconds away from answering your call for help, day or night.

Some pendant alarms can be programmed to alert a carer or loved one directly.

Most standard pendant alarms do not include fall detection. If you need a pendant alarm that can detect when you fall over, look for ‘fall alarms‘.

Pendant alarms are not just for the elderly. They are used every day by disabled people, people who are chronically ill, and by people who just want the confidence to remain independent in their own homes.

Pendant alarms also offer peace of mind for loved ones, family and friends. They help people to stop worrying about someone who is at risk of becoming unwell or needing help in an emergency.

Personal pendant alarms are small, lightweight devices that are typically attached to a wristband or a lanyard to give you options on how to wear them comfortably. The most important feature of a personal alarm is the push-button, which you press in an emergency to call for help.

Traditional pendant alarm kits come with a base unit. This is a separate device that is about the size of a small radio – and features a built-in speakerphone and a second push-button to use to raise the alert.

Personal alarms are intended for use by one and the same person. This is especially true if you use a careline service, like ours, to answer your calls for help.

If you would find a pendant alarm useful and you live with somebody else who would also like to use one, you should choose a careline service provider that offers multi-user plans, such as Telecare24.

Pendant alarms can be ordered from Telecare24 and delivered the next working day, free of charge.

In this case, they all mean the same thing!

Pendant alarms have lots of different names that people use to refer to the same thing. They’re also commonly known as personal alarms, elderly alarms, SOS buttons, and emergency call buttons.

The important thing to remember is that to keep you safe, you need two things; a way to raise the alert, and a monitoring service waiting on the other end to answer and ensure help reaches you fast.

The digital switchover affects pendant alarms that use the landline telephone network.

If you have pendant alarm and you have questions about the digital switchover, we’ve created a guide that aims to leave you feeling confident about what the digital switchover means for you as a pendant alarm user.

Our free information pack explains everything you need to know and makes it easy to understand the options and to discuss them with your loved ones.

Download our brochure today or request one in the post, free of charge.