Using Radar Healthcare to bring your care home policies to life

All healthcare organisations and services must have structured and functioning policies and procedures in place to maintain high levels of care and ensure that health and safety are always prioritised by workers. Without these measures, or if they are incorrectly enforced or communicated, care organisations face huge risks and will be penalised by regulatory bodies, including the Care Quality Commission (CQC).

Let’s investigate what a policy within healthcare looks like, some best practices, and how to maximise efficiencies with digital solutions.

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What are policies and why are they important?

All organisations, no matter the sector, must have policies and procedures in place to ensure that all operations function safely and comply with the law and regulating bodies.

And as we know in healthcare, mistakes, errors, and poorly constructed and executed policies can be the difference between life and death.

Policies are the rules that all workers must abide by, and additional procedures are typically in place to give step-by-step guidance to ensure all employees understand how to approach incidents and events lawfully and safely.

“Radar Healthcare has revolutionised how we can monitor the quality of our services through auditing. It’s made life easier for our homes by having all policies in one place.”

– Advinia Health Care

Many care homes will have similar policies in place. For instance, Health and Safety, Fire Safety, Infection Control, Safeguarding, Whistleblowing, Incidents, and Complaints policies are all common in healthcare.

For example, a Health and Safety policy would be broken down to look at and assess everything from the working environment to resident safety and so much more.

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Best practices for care services

Accessibility and communication with policies are crucial. All workers must be able to reference guidance whenever necessary. Having a centralised location for all information and documents is a practical way of managing and storing policies.

Good policies and procedures must be clear and concise. It is important to avoid unnecessary jargon and complexities, to ensure that workers understand what is expected of them.

Harness the power of feedback. The best way to improve policies and procedures is by reviewing comments, concerns, and complaints from residents, family members, and employees. Putting people at the heart of your policies is a great way to build a successful and safe culture.

“We recognised that the end-users must be the ones driving the project; they were involved in the decision-making process and have been involved in workflows so they can feedback where further efficiencies can be made. It truly is a team effort.”

– Lifeways Group

The importance of a manager’s role is critical. Managers can bring the policies to life and engage their workforce to ensure they all have the appropriate training, experience, and knowledge to correctly and safely fulfill their roles. It is essential to consider people’s learning preferences too. Some employees may benefit from visual aids, reading, and so on. However, all managers must have oversight, visibility, and open communication with their workforce.

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As we know the CQC inspects, regulates, and monitors all care homes to ensure that they are delivering a high standard of care and that all relevant policies and procedures are being met. All care home policies must be compliant with regulations.

“Radar Healthcare has helped us be Outstanding! Radar Healthcare has transformed the way we work. It has provided visibility and central governance around all areas of quality and compliance, enabling us to triangulate data to identify key themes and trends. We know where our risks are. We know what the issues are, and we can react to them quickly. Five out of our six CQC regulated services are now rated ‘Outstanding’ in the well-led category and the Radar Healthcare reporting function has been instrumental in achieving this.”

– Essex Care Ltd

How can Radar Healthcare help?

We are dedicated to supporting all health and social care organisations, with the end goal of helping our partners make a difference in healthcare.

Our flexible and reliable solution has been designed to allow real care teams to collaborate on projects and ingrain a culture of continuous improvement, increasing safety across the whole organisation for the mutual benefit of all. With a wide range of quality and compliance modules, managers can rest assured that policies are being adhered to, managed effectively, and constantly improved.

“Radar Healthcare digitises and triangulates policies and procedures into one central location, increasing visibility, accessibility, and communication across healthcare teams.

Using the event management module, you can digitise operating procedures, create workflows that trigger actions, and standardise behaviours to automate processes and ensure that your team has a wider understanding of duty so nothing is ever missed. Linking items like audits and risk registers enable teams to complete further assessments, embedding a culture of continuous improvement.

This essential yet lengthy and confusing process is then transformed into something that engages your workforce, is easily traced and evidenced to regulating bodies, actively drives a high level of care, and brings your policies to life.”

– Mark Harrison, Customer Success Manager

Get in touch with our expert team today and understand how you and your care team can start to reap the benefits. Book a consultation here!