Person Centred Software's health and social care integration

Joining up health and social care: Instant and secure access to residents’ health and social care records

Discover the partnership and integration between Person Centred Software and Connecting Care, and how it’s benefitted Silver Trees Care Home.

Connecting Care is a digital care record system that aims to share secure information with healthcare providers throughout Bristol, North Somerset and South Gloucestershire.  

Person Centred Software, a market leader in care home software and providers of the UK’s most widely used digital care system, supplies the care sector with solutions that improve residents' care outcomes and allow care providers more time to care. From electronic care planning software to medication and visitor management systems, Person Centred Software has been transforming social care with its digital technology since 2013.  

Person Centred Software’s main aim is to improve the quality of care and enable a seamless journey for people when moving between services. Working hard to integrate health and social care services, Person Centred Software was one of the first companies to launch an integration with NHS Digital’s GP Connect product. This gave registered nurses at care homes secure and direct access to GP records and medical notes of those being cared for in real-time.   

To give a more joined-up approach to the care residents receive, Person Centred Software has partnered with Connecting Care, which allows them to share relevant data in a timely manner, giving instant and secure access to residents’ health and social care records to the professionals involved in their care. The idea is to help improve communications and the quality of care across the board. These records are shared securely using an encrypted connection to the Connecting Care clinical database, which is located in a highly secure NHS-owned and run data centre.   

A more integrated health and care system will benefit many people; the partnership will help improve efficiency in care homes - collaboration is the key to joining up health and social care.  

Connecting health and social care through Technology  

Silver Trees is a 62-bed care home situated in the sweeping landscape of Somerset, providing residential, nursing and respite care to the community's older adults. As part of the Handsale Group, the care home aims to provide outstanding care for its residents.   

The home uses the digital care record system to automatically transfer residents’ digital hospital pack data through Person Centred Software’s Digital Care System, ensuring the data visible to relevant professionals registered to use Connecting Care. Through the integration and partnership, residents’ records are available to the right people, in the right place, at the right time, resulting in the ability to action prescriptions and provide necessary help much faster.   

Speaking of the experience so far, Alina Talbar, Logistics Manager at Silver Trees Care Home, said: “We feel extremely privileged to be amongst the first to reap the benefits following the integration, and the feedback we’ve received from nursing staff has been fantastic. We’ve taken the time to listen and adapt to the system at Silver Trees, and we think it’s a must for any care provider as the system has endless possibilities.” 

She continued: “What I like most about the system is when we have new admissions in the home, the initial assessment process previously had several flaws, including the information form itself being incredibly difficult to access. So, based on the information provided by Connecting Care, we are now able to access accurate information, such as safeguarding, medication allergies, consultations, laboratory results and more – everything you could possibly need to know about the patient to make responsible decisions.” 

Discussing the integration with Connecting Care, CEO of Person Centred Software, Andrew Coles, commented: “We have always strived to make life better for everyone involved in social care, which has been made possible through our Digital Care System. By working alongside Connecting Care, we are yet another step closer to our goal of driving Joined Up Care and interoperability across multiple digital systems. This landmark will only continue to improve the information flow and reiterates the need for all social care providers to adopt digital care systems now more than ever.” 

Fran Draper, Senior Project Manager at Connecting Care, said: “Our interoperability program combines agreed electronic data which is collected through various systems and organisations across the region – currently covering around one million people! This allows a role-based view of information to appropriately authorised care professionals, in a seamless and easy-to-use format.”  

“We’ve been working with care homes since 2018 to devise a useful and usable solution that allows authorised care home staff to view relevant information.  56 care homes are currently connected to view the Connecting Care shared care record. 

Find out more about joined up care or find out how to get instant and secure access to residents’ health and social care records by going digital with Person Centred Software.