If you read an article about technology and social care the chances are that you’ll see a vision of the needs of service users being tended to by some kind of robot. All very exciting and entertaining. But missing the basic point that good care is mostly about human interaction.

Technology has instead a real value when it supports those interactions and allows more time for them to happen.

We’ve recently invested significantly in a modern care management system. It’s a mobile platform that is bringing real benefits to our team and to our residents. By taking care of routine admin tasks and ensuring that relevant details such as care plans are always readily available, we are finding that we have more time to interact and concentrate on the wellbeing of those we care for, our residents.

In selecting the software, we had some essential criteria:

• It had to be simple to use so it didn’t distract our care staff from interacting with residents.
• It had to help our team deliver consistently excellent care against agreed care plans.
• It had to help us flag up and track the individual actions and interventions needed for each resident.
• Information had to be real time and automated, so we could spend more time understanding what was happening and less time recording it.

The system we chose does all of this and more. Real time reporting ensures there is complete continuity during shift handovers. We also have complete audit trails for medication, liquids, nutrition and activity levels that can highlight any potential issues and suggest alterations to the required care.

The software also brings greater consistency. Procedures are aligned not only to the care plan for each individual resident but also to the CQC standards. This builds a consistent and measurable level of care for everyone. The transparency of this system is not only beneficial for relatives but also our senior managers and experts in care who are able to monitor vital signs and have an instant input when and where it is required. 

The technology we’ve invested in also helps us to build a stronger care team around each person, involving families, friends and health service professionals. We’ll talk more about this in another article.

Most importantly the technology saves us time. We are investing the time released in better quality interactions with our residents to help them lead the most active and fulfilling lives possible.

If you’re looking for a care provider for yourself or a loved one, in one of our homes or yours you can find out more by visiting our website or contact us directly on 01305 300 161 to discuss in more detail how we can help you.