According to a notice on the PASA website posted yesterday, from 1 April 2008, only products and equipment that comply with the requirements of the revised European Harmonised Standard will be available via the NHS PASA telecare NFA.
It precedes this statement by saying “NFA suppliers have been asked to clarify the steps they have taken (or are in the process of taking) to ensure that all products and equipment offered via the NHS PASA agreement are compliant with the requirements of the new Harmonised Standard.” and then passes the responsibility to local telecare commissioners, saying that “users of the telecare NFA are advised to undertake a full assessment in relation to user requirements and local/existing procedures in order to evaluate and assess products/services available via the telecare NFA. This should be undertaken prior to purchasing stocks and issuing to users.”
So not only do the suppliers have to respond to PASA, they will now be inundated with requests for information from existing and potential customers. Perhaps PASA will do everyone a favour and publish a list of compliant devices as and when they receive their information from suppliers.