Thanks to digital care plans, VISTA Care can now create over 1,000 care notes per day

A safer, more efficient way of providing care

About VISTA Care

Established in 2007, VISTA Care is a medium-sized care provider based in Northamptonshire for young adults with learning disabilities, autistic spectrum disorders, down syndrome, epilepsy, complex health conditions, emotional and behavioural difficulties and attachment disorders. Vista Care has five separate sites, all of which have a minimum of 3 and a maximum of 10 residents. Currently, it has 25 residents over the five sites.

Emma Macavoy, registered manager at VISTA Care, explains why they decided to change from the traditional paper-based approach to Person Centred Software’s digital care planning system, mCare.

I've held various positions since joining the VISTA Care team in 2014. I have served as the registered manager for four of the five sites, and I am now the organisation's registered supported living services manager and business development manager. My role focuses on developing the organisation and making sure quality care remains a top priority.

I've been looking for a digital care planning system that would allow us to move away from paper-based care plans and enhance the quality of our services at a cost-effective price, and I've finally found one! Before implementing Person Centred Software's digital care planning system, mCare, VISTA Care was predominantly paper-based, and the care team had limited technology for day-to-day care provision. Since some staff members weren't so "au fait" with technology, I think they were initially apprehensive about implementing a digital care planning system.

Advancing with digital care plans

To improve the care for our residents, we trialled mCare in one of our care homes in May 2020. The trial went down a storm! It went so well that by October/November of that same year, we decided to continue the rollout of the system across our other services. At first, there was uncertainty among most staff about adopting the digital care planning system. However, everyone has become adept at using it with time and practice. mCare has helped us significantly improve our care plans because they are now digital and stored on a cloud-based platform that is easily accessible to those who need them whenever they need them. Furthermore, all our care interactions are in one place, making it easy for the Care Quality Commission (CQC) to audit.

The feature I like the most about mCare

The team and I enjoy using the digital care planning system's easy-to-use Icon-Driven Interface and Speech to Text features. We use the icons and Speech to Text features to help us provide detailed care notes, allowing us to ensure the appropriate and right level of care has been provided. With mCare's digital care plans, creating care plans takes less time, which enables our care team to spend more time with the residents doing activities they enjoy.

We need evidence of the care we provide, so I also love that Person Centred Software's hand-held devices can take photos. During our community outings, we carry the hand-held devices to record our activities with the residents, which are uploaded to the system instantly.

Everything you need in one place

As a manager, I have the convenience of accessing all the information in one place, which I can check whenever I want to. I can even log in remotely from home at 11 pm to ensure everything has been running smoothly throughout the day - this can be done easily, securely and quickly.

mCare is a valuable tool and helps us to evidence a number of things, from how engaged an individual was, what they got from the activity, how much support they needed to in-depth information about activities within personal care, what they've eaten, where they've been, and how long they were out in the community. The level of engagement required from staff is what the commissioners (social services, CCGs and local authorities) particularly look for, and the system helps us to evidence this.

Furthermore, our care team has a broad age range of 17 to 78, all of which find mCare user-friendly and reliable, which is great!

I know I've previously mentioned this, but I must reiterate that implementing mCare has saved our staff a significant amount of time, allowing them to dedicate more time to engaging with the residents, which is beneficial for both the staff and the residents.

The ability to create over 1,000 care notes per day using digital care plans

Since making the switch from paper-based methods to digital care plans, we have been able to document, on average, over 1,000 care notes per day for our residents!

This level of detail and accuracy, all while ensuring that residents get the best possible care, wouldn't have been remotely possible with traditional paper-based care plans; I would say that investing in Person Centred Software's digital care planning system is a positive move for any care provider. It has helped us achieve better outcomes for all residents.

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With mCare's digital care plans, creating care plans takes less time, which enables our care team to spend more time with the residents doing activities they enjoy.

Emma Macavoy
Registered Manager, VISTA Care