Lockdown lifeline to keep relatives connected offered to care homes

Published in Care & Nursing Essentials and The Care Home Environment and Building Better Healthcare and Care Home Professional

Lockdown lifeline to keep relatives connected offered to all UK and Ireland care homes

Care homes across the UK and Ireland are being offered a vital line of communication that will enable families to stay updated about the care of elderly residents during coronavirus lockdown.

Leading care technology provider Person Centred Software is opening up its Relatives Gateway platform to all UK care homes free of charge to help them maintain communication with families during these unprecedented times.

Allowing secure social media style messages and photos to be shared between care home residents and their families, it will also give carers an efficient way to provide wellbeing updates to concerned loved ones.

In the last month, 2,700 people have used the Relatives Gateway to keep in touch with family members living in care homes. The technology is currently used by 1,600 UK care homes who use Person Centred Software’s Mobile Care Monitoring system, but in response to the escalating COVID-19 situation in the UK, the company is rolling out a free version for any care home to implement.

Jonathan Papworth, founder and director of Person Centred Software says this could be a vital lifeline: “Following calls from the government to stop non-urgent contact and protect those most vulnerable, the care sector is facing unprecedented social and operational challenges of lockdown conditions.

“Putting people and personal interaction at the heart of care is vital and it’s important that care home residents who miss out on visits from loved ones stay connected – while families and friends remain updated about the day-to-day wellbeing of their loved ones.”

Person Centred Software’s move has been commended by Care England with chief executive Professor Martin Green OBE saying: “This will help Care Homes maintain isolation, but at the same time, enable people to keep in contact with relatives, friends and loved ones."

Jonathan continues: “Care homes face significant uplifts in phone calls from concerned family members over the coming months. Our technology provides a window to provision and enables carers to share pictures and messages from the outside world. It’s a way to help free up care time, but importantly can help boost morale during what could be a lengthy and lonely lockdown.

“We’ve developed a free version of our Relatives Gateway that can be rapidly deployed to any care homes that wish to use it – our aim is to support the sector to help families stay connected throughout this challenging time.”

The Relatives Gateway enables relatives to communicate with loved ones via a web application. For further information, call 01483 357 657.