11.27.2024 PCS
Empowering carers and giving them more time to focus on care
International Stress Awareness Week, first created in 2018 by the International Stress Management Association (ISMA), aims to raise awareness about stress and its harmful effects. This annual event takes place from November 4th to 8th and focuses on stress management while working to combat the stigma surrounding stress and mental health issues. This year marks the 50th anniversary of the event, and the theme is 'Campaigning to Reduce Stress and Improve Wellbeing'.
To coincide with International Stress Awareness Week, we discuss the need for digital technologies and interoperability within social care. We also discuss how digital social care record systems can help reduce stress and support care workers.
The impact of COVID-19 on mental health
The COVID-19 pandemic has significantly put a strain on the UK's health and social care services. People of all professions have worked tirelessly to help those in need, and it's impossible to overestimate the impact of working under such sustained pressure.
Research from the Care Quality Commission (CQC) has highlighted that health and social care workers have faced various challenges during the pandemic that have impacted their mental health and wellbeing - anxiety, stress, exhaustion, and burnout, to name a few.
Although the global health emergency has passed, many health and care workers are still reporting these symptoms.
Furthermore, it is essential to acknowledge that COVID-19 cases are still widespread.
Caring for those who care for us is essential
Improving working conditions and supporting the mental health of care workers is critical as it boosts job satisfaction, allows care workers to perform at their best, and increases staff retention. Keeping skilled and experienced professionals within the social care sector is vital for maintaining high standards of care for residents.
Care workers are dedicated professionals who truly care about supporting individuals in need. However, the demands of their day-to-day responsibilities can significantly affect their stress levels and overall mental wellbeing.
For example:
- Heavy workload pressures: Care workers often have to manage multiple tasks simultaneously, which can lead to feelings of overwhelm and prevent them from providing the high-quality care they aspire to deliver.
- A lack of supportive technology: Many care workers lack access to technology that could streamline tasks and enhance communication with colleagues. This limitation can result in increased errors and inefficiencies that add further stress to their routines.
- Poor communication between the health and social care sector : Ineffective communication among different sectors can create barriers to sharing critical information about a resident's needs, ultimately hindering the delivery of coordinated care and putting added pressure on care workers.
These are just a few factors care workers face.
Person Centred Software's main aim is to help improve the quality of life for people living and working in social care. For International Stress Awareness Week, we wanted to draw attention to the statistics provided by the CQC on workforce stress and burnout and advise on innovative and sustainable technological solutions that can help reduce the statistics in the years to come.
Interoperability across health and social care systems
The GP Connect service is a good example of interoperability and massively helps care providers save time. It uses standards that enable interoperability between different clinical systems, enabling the secure sharing of patient records across primary care. Our GP Connect integration enables care providers to access the GP records and medical notes of those supported in real-time.
Interoperability across health and social care systems means patients can receive treatment and care faster by avoiding delays.
Interoperability will streamline care, promote patient-centred care, and reduce healthcare costs. It will also give health and social care professionals all the information they need to make more informed decisions and create a more agile workforce with care workers and nurses easily moving between roles in the NHS and the care sector.
Integrating health and social care services has been a long-standing goal, with several government policies written and published in the last decade. Our long-standing goal is to integrate health and social care services to improve the quality of care and enable a better journey for people when they move between services.
Click here to discover why care providers should choose a supplier that offers an interoperable digital social care record system.
Why will digital technologies improve the standard of care and help reduce stress among care workers?
Care providers must do what they can to reduce the work burden on their staff without compromising the quality of care.
Using digital technologies, such as our digital social care record system, can reduce stress among staff by simplifying tasks and freeing up more time to care. It can also dramatically improve the standard of care by:
- Improving safety - Moving care plans into a digital format makes it easier for care providers to manage care and respond to people's needs more rapidly, helping deliver safer, more personalised care.
- Minimising hospital admissions - Health and care professionals have more information about the individual, which can help them make better decisions
- Enhancing data security and digital audit trail
- Ensuring care providers are better informed to deliver quality care
- Reducing the number of phone calls and manual requests for resident information
- Allowing care workers to share important information quickly, safely and securely between care settings
- Helping care workers capture information more easily at the point of care
Our digital social care record system also provides you with the necessary information for inspections, helping improve regulatory scores.
Ease the stress by going digital or switching software providers
If you're a care provider still using paper records and need guidance on going digital, or if you're already using a digital social care record system and looking to switch, download our ultimate guide to switching digital social care record systems.
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