Going digital: true stories and honest advice from social care providers
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So long summer - autumn is where it’s at as we look ahead to the Care Show Birmingham this October (9-10).
Ahead of the big event, care providers in Staffordshire have been sharing their experiences of going digital as part of the Digitising Social Care (DiSC) programme’s Clock is Ticking campaign, which highlights the limited time left to apply for funding to set up digital social care records, and the wealth of local help and support on offer.
The switch to digital has helped the team at The Old Rectory in Fradswell, Stafford, to understand their residents better, according to team leader Jessica Brown.
“You've got the care plans on there, which you can have on you at all times, on the system” says Jessica.
“So, we can sit and read through the details. Any changes that are needed, we're informed of straight away. And if they need anything or if there's any changes in their care or in their capacity, we can change that plan to give them the best level of care.”
The home’s manager Charlotte Buckley says it’s also been a lot better for staff,
“When we were using paper, everything was taking a lot longer. Staff were having to set out set times of the day to update care plans, rather than putting information in at the time that they'd done personal care or if there was an incident. So sometimes the information wasn’t as accurate as it could have been.”
Access to up-to-date information and care plans was also difficult for the Supported Living team at Hayward Community Living before they set up digital social care records. Previously, clients’ daily records used to be kept in their property, so they would have to physically go to their homes for information. With some people living up to half an hour apart this added a lot of time on the day.
Service manager Lucy Powell says they’ve also become a lot more responsive since the new system went live.
“We’re able to deal with and act on alerts created by carers in terms of client medication and things like that much more quickly… Our documentation has also improved.”
Managers and carers have been open and honest in their advice to others considering making the switch to digital. Charlotte Buckley, from The Old Rectory admits,
“We knew it was going to be a big job to go digital, so we put it off… but a lot of people have been pleasantly surprised by how easy the system is to use.”
Her advice to other social care providers is clear:
“Go for it” says Charlotte, “because as much as it's a big jump to go from paper to digital, It just makes things a little bit easier to access, and a lot easier to check if everything's working smoothly…you've just got it all in the same spot - from your laptop, from home, you can even do it on your phone. It makes things a lot easier.”
Sara Lisgo, services manager for Hayward Community Living says there are processes they could have done differently and advises,
“Allow more time for the initial set up. We had to input the information manually into the system we use and make sure all information was sent over to the app. So that took time…but it was worth it. It is quick and efficient and guides you particularly to care plans to make sure you've got all areas covered. They're more efficient for use for the clients, but also for the CQC. It looks brilliant.”
The Digitising Social Care programme will be exhibiting at Care Show Birmingham and look forward to meeting social care colleagues and outlining the support on offer to organisations and staff on their digital journeys.
For more information and to watch the videos, visit True stories and honest advice from care providers about switching to digital | Digitising Social Care
And find out more about funding and support for digital projects.
This article was submitted by Digitising Social Care
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