Hytera Radios for Care Homes
Hytera is one of the two radio brands UK care providers actually standardise on — rugged handsets, discreet earpieces and batteries that outlast a full night shift. We supply Hytera to UK care and nursing homes the way a registered manager's finance office likes to buy: written quote, proforma invoice paid by BACS, radios delivered programmed and ready to hand out.
A press of a button reaches every carer on shift — no dialling, no waiting for a nurse-call panel to be answered from the other end of the building. For lone night staff, residents at risk of falls or wandering, and the moments where seconds matter, that instant summon is why radios are now standard kit across the sector's roughly 15,000 UK care homes.
Which Hytera radio fits your home?
Single buildings & smaller homes — licence-free
No Ofcom licence, no paperwork. Charge them, hand them out, done. Right for most residential and smaller nursing homes in one building.
- Hytera AP515LF — £110 ex VAT. Simple, tough, 32 channels. The budget pick for a small staff team.
- Hytera BD505LF — £133 ex VAT (six-pack £901). Digital audio, 16-hour battery that covers a night shift and then some — the care-home workhorse. Clearer sound than analogue down a long corridor or through a fire door.
- Hytera BP515LF — £154 ex VAT. The newest licence-free digital; Hytera's official successor to the discontinued BD305LF, so it drops into an existing BD305LF fleet neatly.
Larger homes, multi-wing & lone-worker cover — licensed digital
More power (4W vs 0.5W) and range for large or multi-building sites — plus the safety features that matter for staff working alone. Needs an Ofcom Simple UK Light licence (£75 for five years) — we handle the application with your order.
- Hytera BP565 — from £179 ex VAT. Licensed digital with lone-worker and man-down — the radio raises the alarm automatically if a carer falls or stops moving, without them having to press anything.
- Hytera PD405 — £201 ex VAT (six-pack £1,358). Rugged DMR, IP55, lone-worker and man-down — the estates-and-nights favourite.
- Hytera HP505 / HP605 — £267 / £363 ex VAT. Premium, IP67, for large multi-wing homes and care villages.
Care groups & multi-site operators
- Hytera P50 PoC — £210 ex VAT. Works nationwide over 4G — useful for groups running several homes, or on-call managers who move between sites.
Discreet by design — dignity on the floor
Every handset pairs with a discreet earpiece (£10–£36 ex VAT), so a call comes through to the carer, not out loud in a resident's room or a communal lounge. Staff coordinate a personal-care task, a fall or a safeguarding concern quietly, without alarming residents or visitors. It's a small thing that inspectors and families both notice.
Already running Hytera radios?
Perfect — new Hytera handsets can be programmed to talk to your existing fleet, so you can expand across a new wing or replace tired handsets in stages rather than re-kitting the whole home at once. If your fleet is the discontinued BD305LF, the current licence-free models slot straight into its role.
What care homes typically spend
- Small residential: 6× BD505LF + 6-way charger + earpieces — ~£700–£950
- Nursing / multi-wing: 12× licensed digitals with man-down + chargers + licence — ~£2,200–£3,800
- Care village / group: 20–40 handsets + spares + licence — quote
A note on CQC and compliance (the honest version)
No regulation names two-way radios, and we won't pretend otherwise. But CQC's key questions — is the service safe, is it well-led — turn on whether staff can summon help instantly and whether the provider can show a working system for it. Radios are the widely-used, common-sense way care homes evidence fast staff-to-staff communication for falls, safeguarding and emergencies. Treat them as good practice that supports safe care, not as a legal requirement — because that's exactly what they are.
How to buy (the bit your office cares about)
- Tell us your home, layout and staff numbers — we'll quote the same day, itemised, on letterhead.
- Pay our proforma invoice by BACS — no card needed. For licensed radios we’ll confirm programming details by phone or email.
- Radios arrive programmed, charged and labelled. Licence sorted if needed.
FAQs
Is Hytera a good brand for care homes? It's one of the two brands UK care providers standardise on. Genuine parts and accessories stay available for years, which matters when you're budgeting replacements from a premises budget.
Do care-home radios need a licence? The licence-free models (AP515LF, BD505LF, BP515LF) don't. Licensed models — the ones with lone-worker and man-down, like the BP565 and PD405 — need the £75/5-year Ofcom licence, and we sort the application for you.
Can radios protect lone night staff? Yes — licensed models such as the BP565 and PD405 include lone-worker and man-down, so the radio raises the alarm automatically if a carer falls or stops moving, even if they can't reach the button.
Are they discreet enough for a resident's room? Yes. Paired with an acoustic-tube earpiece, the call goes to the carer's ear, not out loud — so you can coordinate personal care and safeguarding without disturbing residents.
Can you supply just batteries and earpieces? Yes — we stock the full genuine accessory range for current and discontinued Hytera models.
Not sure whether a single building or a bigger group setup suits you? Read our two way radios for care homes guide, or see how we kit out schools and browse all two-way radios.
We supply the same way across sectors: schools, hotels, holiday parks, golf courses, churches, colleges — or browse all two-way radios.