TECH TALK: Attracting people to care

Published in Care Home Professional

Founder of Person Centred Software, Jonathan Papworth, shares how technology can help you overcome today’s recruitment challenges.

Social care has been under staffing pressures for many years, and just when it seems it can’t possibly get any more challenging, it does. The ‘Pingdemic’ was a sudden new challenge, once again showing how policy makers seem unable to recognise the needs of our sector.

The combination of Brexit and COVID have left more staffing shortages which means that many providers need to focus on recruitment. With a limited number of people available, it is important to offer a better working environment.

Google doesn’t provide wacky offices just for publicity, they know that the best people are attracted to the best working conditions. Whilst people work in social care because they love helping people, it would be remiss to consider this unconditional, and a work environment of excessive paperwork, noisy call bells and care plans that are hard to get hold of, is unlikely to attract anyone, let alone the best people.

The easiest way to attract people is to make the workplace as enjoyable and professional as possible, and this is where technology can really help.

There are well proven solutions like digital care planning, and mobile evidence of care, which remove tedious paperwork and give access to all the information needed to provide the most appropriate person-centred care.

Nurse call messaging systems take away the need to have call bells ringing at all hours. Some people will be attracted to more innovative ideas like fall detection. These systems have been used by care providers to help attract people to work in social care, and the more people attracted to the sector the easier it is to recruit the best people.

Quality of care requires the right people, and the right people will prefer to work in the best environment with access to the best systems.