TECH TALK: Empowering staff-centred care through technology

Published in Care Home Professional

Person Centred Software co-founder and director Jonathan Papworth looks at how technology is empowering care workers.

Care Home Open Day on 28 June encourages care homes to open their doors and show local communities the person-centred care that goes on behind them and how technology is being used to enhance residents’ lives through, for example, magic tables and wearables such as heart monitors.

However, technology often focuses on improving residents’ experiences of person-centred care, while the people who actually provide care are overlooked. Hundreds of software systems provide tools to managers and business owners, yet in the past, very few supported the people who are giving care.

More recently, software has been specifically aimed at improving carers working conditions and has been designed with them in mind. An icon-driven system can be used by 100% of staff – whether they speak English as a second language, are dyslexic or non-IT literature. A mobile system ensures care staff can record care on-the-go, allowing them to spend more time with residents.

Managers can audit care much more effectively with electronic real-time recording than on paper which can properly reflect the care that was given. Since using electronic evidence of care and care planning, a business owner has seen his care home group’s staff retention rate increase by 40% for care staff due to improved staff morale.

Care workers are integral to providing person-centred care to residents, demonstrating it to inspectors through documentation, improving the quality of care, and helping care home businesses to thrive.