Are you ready to digitise your care records?
If you're looking for a digital care system that displays digital social care records, you may be feeling a little overwhelmed. There are many out there with varying features and levels of service, so how do you choose the right digital care system for your organisation?
Firstly, it is a good idea to speak to several other care providers who have already made the digital transition. They can give you some advice on which digital care system to use.
You are buying a digital care system to meet the new target of having digital social care records by 2025, but you also need to ask yourself, why else would you need a digital care system?
Are you looking for a system that integrates with eMAR to effectively manage and monitor residents' medication?
Do you need a system that helps to improve your CQC ratings?
Perhaps you're looking for a system to help prevent dehydration and monitor nutrition amongst your residents, etc.
Once you have the answers to your 'Why' for wanting a digital care system, you can start searching for the right system for your organisation.
People need to go into the process with their eyes open and talk to people who have made that digital transition already. That's the most important thing they can do.
Jonathan Papworth
Founder of Person Centred Software
Each care home is at varying levels of digital maturity, which means there will be many challenges ahead to achieving integrated care with digital. Health and adult social care providers who already use a digital care system must reach a minimum level of digital maturity, and these providers should be connected to a shared care record (digital social care record).
Where do you stand in your digital transformation journey? How digitally mature is your care home? Look at the categories below; which do you fall in?
A good digital care system should be able to fulfil the processes required to manage a care service effectively - improving the quality of care provided. Furthermore, a good digital care system should be capable of replacing your existing paper-based care records, allowing you to create digital social care records and digital care plans and document care-related activities.
At its basic level, interoperability is about getting systems to talk to one another. Interoperability in healthcare enables various healthcare information technology (HIT) to communicate and exchange information.
For example, GP Connect, an NHS Digital managed service, uses standards that enable interoperability between different clinical systems, enabling the secure sharing of patient records across primary care. Person Centred Software has a GP Connect integration, which allows care providers to review the GP records and medical notes of those being supported in real-time.
Below are a few examples of the type of information made available through GP Connect:
Person Centred Software launched its integration with GP Connect in February 2021. It became the first care home software provider to electronically transfer hospital packages directly to hospitals and advanced care plans to ambulance services via its digital care system, mCare.
"Finding a digital system that can integrate health and care services across multiple settings is important."
Andrew Coles
Chief Product Officer at Person Centred Software
Another good example of interoperability is eMAR, an electronic medication administration and recording tool that care providers can use to record medication administration in care settings.
Person Centred Software's electronic medication management system (ATLAS eMAR) has been integrated to give care homes greater flexibility and the freedom to work with their preferred pharmacies.
ATLAS eMAR improves the medication process's safety, accountability, and efficiency. Care homes using the digital care system will have complete visibility of the eMAR within their daily records and care plans. Combining the platforms ensures critical information is available when needed and empowers care workers to understand prescribing and issuing patterns, ultimately minimising errors.
The shared platform also strengthens the partnerships between care homes, GPs and pharmacies, allowing for better integration and collaboration.
A common concern care providers have about their organisation using a digital care system is the risk of losing digital social care records. How secure is the data?
A good digital care system will store real-time data in multiple data sets using geo-replication. Geo-replication is a type of data storage replication in which the same data is stored on servers in multiple distant physical locations. So, in case of a large-scale outage or regional disaster, the system can recover the databases quickly.
Person Centred Software uses Microsoft Azure to store its data, where everything is geo-replicated and backed up instantly to other data sets.
With Person Centred Software's customers storing billions of care notes, increasing to over 5 million care notes per day, Person Centred Software ensures to deliver a high standard of data security to ensure personal records and sensitive information are kept secure and protected on a robust platform – data security and information governance are taken very seriously, using a number of measures to keep everything secure.
Person Centred Software’s data storage is fully resilient – with no single point of failure.
Jonathan Papworth
Founder of Person Centred Software
With the right digital care management system, the information you input into the system can transform how you care for the people in your care organisation.
You need to look for a digital care system that can analyse collected data, provide your organisation with reports, and flag concerns and risks to help make informed decisions for your residents.
Person Centred Software, through reporting tools, enables care providers to:
Here are a few useful pointers before you get started:
Most suppliers will offer training sessions on how to use their digital care management system. Person Centred Software's all-in-one digital care management system is easy to use and quick to set up.
A carefully designed, comprehensive course of 3 standard training sessions has been created; they can be delivered either by individual remote training sessions or group interactive webinars. These sessions, supported by complimentary webinars, will help guide you through each part of the digital care management system.
Person Centred Software's standard training sessions can also be delivered onsite at your location.
All you need is a designated training room to safely accommodate delegates and trainers while allowing for social distancing.
Your trainer will telephone the home the day before to confirm the home is Covid-free. If required, they will take their lateral flow test on the morning of training and provide proof of a negative result on arrival. Should the trainer receive a positive test, you will be notified immediately and discuss alternative options.
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