Galway nursing home turns to agile care technology in bid to cope with pandemic

With the Irish care sector still recovering from the coronavirus outbreak over spring and summer, one nursing home in Galway has turned to agile technology in a bid to better prepare it for the forthcoming second wave.

Following a recent cabinet meeting where Prime Minister Micheál Martin announced that the country would move from level 2 of its restrictions to level 3 until the end of October, as new COVID cases continue to rise, Rushmore Nursing Home has equipped itself with leading digital care technology to better support staff and residents at the home.

The family-run home, based in Knocknacarra, has utilised agile technology that has been tried and tested throughout the pandemic, using Person Centred Software’s Mobile Care Monitoring system to digitally plan, record and monitor the care of its residents - empowering staff by reducing the time it would take to physically transcribe care notes, so they can better spend it supporting residents.

We’re a 27-bed family-run home where everyone sees each other as family. We have proud values we continuously strive for and knew we had to do everything we could to protect our family from the pandemic. With cases continuing to rise and the prospect of a national lockdown looking more and more likely, we knew we had to give our staff the best possible chance to combat the virus, and Person Centred Software has provided that.

Evidencing at the point of care has freed up so much more time in the home, staff no longer have to worry about finding extra time to complete tasks as they can work ‘on the go’, and with a click of a button, as opposed to trying to remember fully detailed care notes hours after providing the care. The implementation of technology also reduces the risk of infection as the mobile devices are easily wipeable. Evidencing care is so critical, especially now with COVID-19, and by using person centred mobile technology we’re able to have an advantage over paper-dependency. I hope we see more Irish homes make the move towards agile technology over the coming months.

Throughout the last six months, Person Centred Software’s system, which is used in over 2,000 care homes across Ireland and the UK, has seen the implementation of eight new coronavirus-specific features to help protect the elderly and vulnerable.

These included coronavirus reporting, staff coronavirus auditing, track and trace reporting, and its Relatives Gateway video link. Person Centred Software’s Mobile Care Monitoring system was found to save each carer one hour per shift to complete administrative tasks, as opposed to how long it would take using paper or less functional systems that lack mobile capability, which is crucial at a time when staff absence and agency usage are on the increase.

Having had to adapt its software to better support staff in care environments during the first wave of the virus, the company now offers a solution that has helped 85% of paper-dependent care providers switch to digital in less than 24 hours.

We’re delighted to see Rushmore Nursing Home benefiting from our system and, ultimately, being able to better protect and support their staff and residents as we head into more uncertain times. By implementing a more efficient digital care system that can integrate with other bespoke digital systems, Rushmore Nursing Home now benefits from greater capabilities, including real-time evidence of care at the point of delivery - a necessity in a crisis.

Having already been one of the worst-hit industries, the care sector must be prepared for what looks to be a tough winter ahead. The flexibility of technology has equipped care providers with the best tools possible to protect their residents – as circumstances drastically change, so does the technology. Unfortunately, those who still rely on paper or have to wait for access to a computer somewhere in the home can’t be as agile, so we encourage them to rethink their administration processes, especially if they were hit hard by the pandemic the first-time round. We want to ensure everyone in care has the best chance to fight through this pandemic, and agile technology is going to play a key role in achieving that.

For more information on Rushmore Nursing Home, please visit www.rushmorenursinghome.com/.