How can technology enhance resident safety

Read Jonathan’s Tech Talk column in July issue of Care Home Professional

Co-founder and director, Jonathan Papworth, explains how Person Centred Software is helping enhance resident safety through the integration of new food safety standards.

Care homes are now being encouraged to move to using the International Dysphagia Diet Standardisation Initiative (IDDSI), a new global framework for texture modified foods and fluids. The aim of the framework is for all healthcare professionals to use the same terminology to describe food and fluids to improve patient safety.

For residents that are at risk of choking or asphyxiation, having a global language is a fantastic step forward in best practice and reduction of risk. While food and fluid could seem quite benign, residents with dysphagia have been ill or died as a result of confusion or miscommunication about diet textures or drink consistencies.

IDDSI is already mandatory for care providers in Bedfordshire. We have adopted the IDDSI categorisation of food and fluid into our electronic evidence of care planning system so that care staff can see what type of diet a resident requires and quickly evidence the food texture along with what the resident ate.

Additionally, food allergies and food textures are clearly displayed as risks for the carer at the point of care on the mobile app, and it updates the MUST weight loss assessment.

This functionality relates to CQC’s E3.5 key line of enquiry, helping care staff to identify and manage risks to people with complex needs in relation to their eating and drinking. Working together, the new IDDSI framework available in digital care planning software prioritises patient safety, reducing the risk of harm to residents and keeping them safer.