Tech Talk: How digital technology has transformed how care homes operate throughout Scotland

Published in Care Home Professional

By Melanie Wilson, General Manager at Dryfemount Care Home

Melanie Wilson, General Manager at Dryfemount Care Home and a valued customer at Person Centred Software, shares how technology has helped to transform the care they provide at their care home in Scotland.

The social care sector continues to be under overwhelming staffing pressures for what feels like an eternity. On top of this, staff would have to do an exponential amount of administration at the end of their shift – and this was before Brexit and COVID!

As a result, unhealthy and unsustainable levels of stress became a regular feature in the workplace, which seriously threatened to disrupt the sustainability of our social care operation.

However, thanks to the digitised commitment from hundreds of care homes across Scotland, this has changed immeasurably. Now, digital technology can save at least an hour per day for each carer, on administrative tasks. This is valuable time that we can now re-invest in providing person-centred care for our residents, which makes a huge difference not only to resident outcomes but also to staff morale. Furthermore, we’ve found that a 12% productivity boost can also be achieved by using Mobile Care Monitoring.

Now, care teams have access to a mobile digital care management system at the tip of their fingertips, reducing the time it would take to physically transcribe care notes, while also mitigating the risk of errors through innovative icon-driven tools.

In addition, the risk of losing information in the care home is eliminated, as all data is recorded in one central portal, which can be viewed anytime by anyone with access.

Furthermore, the adoption of technology has made the workplace a much healthier and happy place to work, whereby those on the frontline of care now have the tools to provide person-centred care and create meaningful experiences for those in their care day after day.

The move to Person Centred Software’s digital care management system was easy, and from a manager’s perspective, I now have a greater observation of the care we provide, while eliminating the gaps in the recording of documentation.

For instance, I can now take pictures on the software, and the system will create all the notes for care staff. The process takes just seconds to complete a workflow for one resident, whereas, before staff would have to go away and physically fill in forms. Now, you just need to choose the relevant icon for each care interaction and the system will complete it instantly for you. I cannot recommend Person Centred Software enough. It’s completely transformed how the social care sector operates.

Overall, the agile capabilities of technology are empowering all areas of care homes, while leaving traditional administration systems to struggle for relevance in a world that is increasingly becoming more integrated and tech-savvy. With all these beneficial changes – and we look forward to implementing many more at Dryfemount Care Home in the imminent future – we believe now is such a pivotal time to take control and help drive outstanding care while eliminating the unnecessary burden of paper-based dependency which ultimately, helps steer the social care sector towards a more sustainable future.