Doncaster-headquartered health and care technology company, Tunstall Healthcare, has expanded its presence in Finland with the acquisition of alarm monitoring services provider Oy Verifi Ab (Verifi).
This latest acquisition, which follows the acquisitions of Secuvita in 2021 and BeWo in March 2022, is part of a broader international growth strategy to solve every-day challenges across the health and social care markets through digital and proactive technology solutions.
The expansion will enable Tunstall Oy, part of the international Tunstall Healthcare group, to expand its services in Finland, which currently provide technology solutions across the country, and to increase the efficiency and security of social and healthcare operations. The partnership will see Tunstall and Verifi launch an alarm monitoring centre aimed at securing the daily lives of older people in their own homes, and saving social and health care resources.
Kristoffer Axelsson, chief commercial officer at Tunstall Healthcare, said: “I’m delighted to announce the acquisition of Verifi by Tunstall, which will enable us to strengthen our presence in Finland. The team at Verifi have built a strong company, with values that support our ethos. The coming together of Tunstall and Verifi will serve to improve cost efficiencies, and greatly improve the quality of health and care, the experience of carers and the experience of end users.
“In recent years, the global social care and health sectors have seen a significant leap in digital capabilities, leading to a growth in the demand for digital services. The benefits of technology are unparalleled and can enable significant benefits within care delivery. Those who use Tunstall’s wrap-around in-home telecare services significantly reduce their calls to the ambulance service (36%) and live independently for longer (1.5 years). In addition, the relative delay for people transferring to residential care (27%) compared with the overall was almost nine months (8.6).
“We’re keen to explore new ways of delivering enhanced health and social care to Finland’s vulnerable people through Verifi’s monitoring centre, and reaping the emotional and financial benefits of deploying wider reaching technology-enabled care.”
The new partnership will enable Tunstall to harness Verifi’s alarm monitoring centre in Vaasa to receive phone alerts from vulnerable people and deploy support where it is needed.
Mika Rajasalo, CEO of Tunstall Oy, added: “We have long supplied security technology to Finnish municipalities, hospital districts and private service providers. Technology offers peace of mind and confidence to people and their families that they’ll receive the right care at the right time, and this acquisition presents us with an opportunity to deliver care to even more people that need it.
“With the acquisition, Tunstall will expand its operations while also gaining qualified, bilingual staff for its team. People are extremely important to us, and the team plays a highly valuable role in helping us move forward successfully with Verifi.”