Why Solomon Care Uses Technology to Improve Care

 

 

Case Study

Solomon Care in Weston-Super-Mare uses technology to support staff to provide the best quality of care possible to residents, which is recognised by CQC.

 

Tilsley House, part of Solomon Care, provides care for up to 31 residents and has used Mobile Care Monitoring’s technology to evidence and monitor care and document care plans since June 2016.

In Tilsley House’s CQC inspection in 2016, where it received a Good rating, Mobile Care Monitoring was cited as improving records because, “staff recorded events such as, incidents, re-positioning, food and fluid intake straight away without waiting to hand write in care files.”

“There are lots of systems out there but the true beauty of technology is what Mobile Care Monitoring gives us.”

Decision to go paperless and use technology

Rizwan-Solomon-Care

Rizwan Govindji, Company Director, made the decision to install a paperless electronic care system at Tilsley House.

After trialing another popular digital system, Rizwan met Person Centred Software at the Care Show in Birmingham and was convinced that Mobile Care Monitoring could support the care home’s aim to provide the best quality of care possible to its residents.

Rizwan says “I could see that the digital dashboards and assessments would help the care home go from strength to strength.” As a member of Spectrum Consortium, Tilsley House receive a discount on Mobile Care Monitoring. Rizwan says the discount was “useful for a single care home keeping pace with CQC’s recommendations by investing in technology.”

Implementing technology

“While transitioning to the new digital care plans technology in our care home, appointing a champion was crucial,” says Rizwan. “It is important to have someone who feels strongly about the system, holds authority with other staff and is comfortable with technology. Our champion was Shari Tindle, our deputy manager.”

Person Centred Software delivered an on-site implementation training plan at Tilsley House to all staff, whether they were already competent with using an electronic system or needed more support to adapt to using a handheld device to document care.

“I believe in Person Centred Software’s system and I was part of the team to introduce it at Tilsley House.” says Shari. “I could see the potential it can bring to staff and residents.

“When we were implementing the system, some staff were clinging on to the security of paper and shying away from change. But a lot of staff surprised themselves by how quickly they adapted. Now it’s second nature for them to log on to Mobile Care Monitoring at the start of the shift.”

“Hours and hours of paperwork are saved every day. Instead, we now have accurate, detailed records, whether it’s an incident report or a falls matrix, the quality of information we can report on has made an impact to our responsive care.”

“Our oldest member of staff is 72 years old, yet the competency of staff from the oldest to the youngest is the same. MCM has enhanced our older staff members’ skills and awareness of the benefits of technology in their personal lives. Many are now confident using a smartphone outside of work since using the system.”

Benefits of using care technology

Tilsey-House-Care-Home-2

With the increased digital skills of staff, Shari explains that “hours and hours of paperwork are saved every day. Instead, we now have accurate, detailed records, whether it’s an incident report or a falls matrix, the quality of information we can report on has made an impact to our responsive care.”

“Compared to just five years ago, a digital care system is crucial to provide a service nowadays. Any business owner would struggle without Mobile Care Monitoring, just for the sheer strain it takes away from managers.”

Tilsley House is an old Victorian building and the WiFi was upgraded during the implementation period so Mobile Care Monitoring could be used to greatest effect. While the system works offline, extending the WiFi to the whole home means that staff can see what’s happening in real-time.

Shari says, “We saw upgrading the WiFi as helping us to provide a better service as we have a good number of residents who use WiFi themselves, and, as a business, more and more administration needs to be completed online.”

Benefits of using digital care planning

Rizwan sees clear benefits of using Mobile Care Monitoring at Tilsley House. “We’ve been using Mobile Care Monitoring since 2016 and staff are clearly documenting more detail that they would otherwise remember by the end of the shift using traditional paper-based recording. The information is also at our fingertips, so staff can see red flags and alerts if care is not documented. This really helps managers keep on top of care.”

“The digital data that can be manipulated is invaluable. It’s got massive potential to set benchmarks and targets for the business.”

The benefits Rizwan was convinced of when he first viewed the system are realised at Tilsley House. He says, “compared to just five years ago, a digital care system is crucial to provide a service nowadays. Any business owner would struggle without Mobile Care Monitoring, just for the sheer strain it takes away from managers. Added to this, the digital data that can be manipulated is invaluable. It’s got massive potential to set benchmarks and targets for the business.”

How technology helps home managers

For Shari, the deputy manager, using Mobile Care Monitoring takes a huge weight off her shoulders. She says, “it’s one screen to see all the information rather than multiple files. Archiving is done for us, and in the right order, and information is automatically saved to the cloud. I also don’t have to worry about data protection as Person Centred Software has designed Mobile Care Monitoring to exceed GDPR’s security requirements.

“Using the system, we have time to spend with residents and provide more person-centred care.”

“The visual system, with flags and icons to keep track of care, allows us to achieve the level of care we aim to give. Mobile Care Monitoring supports what we’re trying to achieve every day for our residents – to give them holistic, personalised care that meets their social, emotional and physical needs.

“Staff using the system to evidence care are also well supported as it’s been designed with them in mind,” says Shari.

“The colour coordinated icons and happiness emojis are fantastic for supporting our staff who don’t speak English as a first language. The system has personalisation built in to it and our staff can easily elaborate about any care they’ve delivered if they want to. Our local authority is happy with this way of recording care.”

Continuous improvements from Person Centred Software

As long-term users, Tilsley House benefits from enhancements added to the system and their ongoing partner relationship with Person Centred Software.

“Person Centred Software constantly improves the system, and we play an active part in improving the system.”

Shari says, “Person Centred Software constantly improves the system, and we play an active part in improving the system. Our nursing team use the Edmonton frailty tool, which was added to the system at our request so we didn’t need to record it on paper.

“The enhanced oral health tools in 2018 have improved our levels of documentation. One of our residents went to a dental appointment and the dentist asked us to change how we provide oral care support. Using Mobile Care Monitoring, we can record that level of detail and add it to the care plan easily.”

Relatives Gateway to keep in touch with families

Along with care plans, assessments and tools to monitor care within Tilsley House, Mobile Care Monitoring includes a Relatives Gateway to share information with relatives of residents. “The Relatives Gateway allows us to engage with relatives across the world,” says Shari. “Our family members can log in and see first-hand what Mum’s doing, and it gives them peace of mind that they can see a general overview at any time.”

“Relatives Gateway is fantastic for transparency.”

Rizwan agrees that, “Relatives Gateway is fantastic for transparency.” It helps save time on the administration burden for staff too as appropriate information is automatically shared on the Relatives Gateway, rather than spending time updating relatives on the phone like they were doing before.

The Relatives Gateway also helps staff to spend more time with residents. Shari says that staff “log residents in to see their care plans and it is great for care plan reviews. The platform works really well for reminiscence where we can store and print off photos of residents such as outings and activities that they’ve enjoyed like having an ice cream on the seafront.”

Mobile Care Monitoring gives users the best of technology

“There are lots of systems out there but the true beauty of technology is what Mobile Care Monitoring gives us,” says Shari. “Using the system, we have time to spend with residents and provide more person-centred care.

“For instance, we can quickly create a new risk assessment that a resident needs to do an adhoc activity. Mobile Care Monitoring supports us to provide a safe and responsive service for our residents.”

 

Find out how Mobile Care Monitoring can help your home

We’ve been using MCM since 2016 and staff are clearly documenting more detail that they would otherwise remember by the end of the shift using traditional paper-based recording. The information is also at our fingertips, so staff can see red flags and alerts if care is not documented. This really helps managers keep on top of care.

 Rizwan Govindji Director - Tilsley House, Solomon Care

 

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