CHM Podcast: Top tips on how digital can boost your care business

Care Home Management’s latest podcast ‘Top tips on how digital can boost your care business’, hosted by Alan Rustad and sponsored by Smooth Digital, featured an expert panel of Ted Mellor from Sage Intacct, York Woodford-Smith at Five On A Bike, Rebecca Taylor from Aquarate, and our very own Head of People and Culture, Hannah Jones from Radar Healthcare.

This insightful episode focuses on digital transformation within care and how organisations can benefit. The panel covered everything from using technology to monitor and collect useful resident data and innovative ways of gathering valuable evidence for CQC, to reducing recruitment costs and improving productivity.

There are lots to be taken from this podcast, so we thought we would break down the key takeaways.

Digital data capture and automating manual processes

As we know the care industry faces many challenges, including, but not limited to, workforce shortages, staff burnout, and recording accurate data.

The panel discusses how technology can support workers to record accurate data and provide a single source of truth, reducing human errors and workload, increasing visibility and accessibility, and in some cases improving the quality of life for residents and job satisfaction for workers.

For instance, Rebecca Taylor, CEO of Aquarate, shares how her innovative product helps workers to monitor residents’ water intake, which not only helps staff and reduces workload but effectively ensures that residents are always obtaining the right amount of water to maintain their best health.

 “Technology isn’t there to replace staff. It is there to provide them with a tool that they can use to reduce their workload and stress levels. It gives them reliable real-time data that they can use to make decisions and eases the role and gives them time to focus on caring for patients.”

Similarly, Hannah Jones, Head of People and Culture at Radar Healthcare explains:

“Automating administrative burdens, tracking results, and taking action where necessary is extremely useful. I think any kind of digital solution within the care setting allows organisations to encourage that culture of continuous quality improvement.

Software like Radar Healthcare works alongside workers to alleviate stress by reducing time spent on admin, freeing up more time for care professionals to do what they are passionate about; caring for their patients.” 

Listen to the full podcast here

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Innovative ways of recording evidence for CQC

The CQC has recently announced their new assessment framework which they will use to inspect care homes. Within this framework, they aim to move away from a single point of inspection and toward a more constant view.

York Woodford-Smith, from Five On A Bike, discusses the benefits of using video to record evidence of continuous good practice, give practical evidence for CQC purposes, show personality and culture, record interviews with residents or activities, and more.

“A lot of it is about celebrating that everyone working in care works extremely hard. There’s a lot of focus on the 2% or 3% that go wrong and not the 98% of times that staff is excellent, and that people are provided with amazing care – by people that put their heart and souls into providing people with an enjoyable existence within care homes.”

Boosting staff retention, reducing recruitment costs, and elevating pressures on care professionals

Ted Mellor, from Sage Intacct, talks about how the industry is faced with some serious financial issues, and how real challenges occur when care organisations try to scale and improve operations.

“I think there is a genuine problem in care in recruitment at the moment, which puts a big strain on the capability of an organsiation to provide adequate care.”

Rebecca Taylor, CEO of Aquarate, poses an interesting question: “how do organisations grow with digital transformation if they cannot see past the mass of financial issues that they have ahead?”

“The whole industry is under pressure from many different routes – a lack of local government funding, increased importance in CQC reporting, and challenges with retaining staff. Having an easy-to-use system that correlates clinical information and financial information, helps organisations have better visibility and understand processes to elevate those cost pressures.”

The panel agrees that in order to attract new residents, stay competitive, and provide the best possible quality of care, investing in innovative and modern technology is essential.

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Summary

Hannah Jones, Head of People and Culture at Radar Healthcare, says it best when she declares that: “now more than ever, employers need to do the right things to drive job satisfaction and attain their valued talent.”

She goes on to say:

“Supporting learning and development and providing optimal working conditions in an open and engaging culture, so they can be their best self and positively impact the level of care, is critical for an organisation being more cost-effective and delivering the best possible care.”

To listen to the full podcast please see here.

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If you are looking to boost your care business, then speak to our expert team today!