Yass Valley Aged Care Ltd, an aged care group based in New South Wales, is one of the latest care services to incorporate digital care technology into its daily operations.
We were delighted to hear that the team at Yass Valley wanted to improve their services by converting from paper-based care planning to digital methods, and this is where our partnership began.
About Yass Valley
Yass Valley Aged Care Group operates two homes: Horton House, built in 1992, and Warmington Lodge, built in 2007. With 65 residents across both homes, Yass Valley care group is a not-for-profit organisation. The homes are proud to be community-based and were fortunate enough to benefit from a multi-million dollar investment to build the facilities with the help of the Yass community.
Many of Yass Valley’s residents are from the local community – and those who require support but remain in their own homes can benefit from the group’s home care packages and services. Pre-COVID, the homes were also open for daycare for those interested in temporary visits.
Horton House, which had a major refurbishment in 2017-2019, together with Warmington Lodge, are home to 100 dedicated, compassionate and hard-working caregivers.
Yass Valley’s Implementation of Person Centred Software
Lyn, the CEO and general manager of Yass Valley Aged Care Group, spoke to us about the shift to Person Centred Software digital care technology: “We’ve been using Person Centred Software for 2 years, and we made the shift after it was recommended to us. Before that, we were completely paper-based.
“We’re relieved that we moved to digital methods before COVID. We were already equipped with IT thanks to our use of Person Centred Software – and because of this, we were able to use Zoom. It was quite fortuitous how it all worked out with the lockdown.
“Normally, you’d only achieve one major change management task in a year. However, when we were re-accredited, we were told that we had some gaps in our documentation. It was suggested that we went electronic to overcome this, and that’s why we shifted to Person Centred Software. We went from being completely paper-based to operating digitally.
“The move was seamless. We had looked at electronic systems previously but weren’t ready to make the transition at the time. I can’t get over how seamlessly it changed.
“We were immediately happy with it. The software has given us so much more information. Naturally, because of our environment, there had to be regular reports for each resident – one, daily, at least. That usually fell to the morning staff, as that’s when most of the work happened. Anything that happened in the evening or nighttime was exceptional reporting.
“Now, we’re getting fantastic reports from evening/night staff too. As a result, we’re getting much more information about each resident, which helps to make people more accountable.”
Yass Valley on Documenting 2,105 Care Notes Per Day
Since implementing Person Centred Software, the Yass Valley team is documenting over 2,000 care notes daily.
“The quality of information that the care managers are getting is much better – the technology has certainly simplified a lot of processes, too,” said Lyn.
“It’s brilliant. We could do with more devices for our cleaners and kitchen staff, so they can document what they do to help the residents. Our staff do a lot of things for our residents, and these often go undocumented. The software has helped me with evidencing any incidents in the homes. I love that when incidents are reported, I have to go in and sign them off, too.
“From a culture perspective, it’s much better having icon-driven technology as it helps us to manage language barriers across our workforce.
“Support from the Person Centred Software team has been great. We’ve had sessions with them to help us along the way, and they’re always there to answer any questions we may have”.
Yass Valley’s Overall Experience
We were delighted to hear that Lyn would happily recommend Person Centred Software to others.
“We would definitely recommend Person Centred Software. In fact, we already have! The move to Person Centred Software was fully supported by the board that manages us too – they liked it. It’s been a positive experience and staff members have taken to it well. It was well-timed.
Thanks to Lyn for sharing Yass Valley’s experience with Person Centred Software.
To find out more about Yass Valley Aged Care Centre, take a look at the website.
