Invicta staff get to grips with repairs

Published by Barbara H for Invicta Telecare in Housing and also in Communities, Education, Environment, Health, Local Government

Invicta Telecare operators based in Andover left the office behind to pay a visit to Testway Housing properties to gain a better understanding about emergency repairs reported by tenants.

Invicta Telecare has enjoyed a thriving partnership with Testway Housing for the past eight years and together they developed the successful mobile response service, First on Sight.

The visit was the idea of Vince McGarry, an Out of Hours operator who handles repair calls on behalf of Testway and other organisations. He felt it would help him to log the calls accurately if he knew more about plumbing and electrical matters within the home and enable him to give on the spot advice to tenants while they wait for the contractor.

Testway’s Void Manager arranged to show the operators around a range of properties to see first hand the different types of central heating boilers, water cylinders, location of stop taps and isolating valves, fuse boxes, smoke detectors and outside drains and manholes.

One Invicta operator said: “I found the visit extremely helpful as I was able to see different property types and the varying equipment in each. It has given me a better understanding of how I can help and support our callers. The repairs handbook which we were given by Testway is fantastic and I was able to help a caller in the early hours of Saturday morning reset his fuse box and get his electric sockets working again.”