Implementing Care Home Software – What Do I Need?

At The Access Group, we have helped thousands of care providers digitise their services. From new start-ups to the UK’s largest providers, no challenge is too big or too small. We have pulled over 30 years of experience together to answer one of the main questions asked during the implementation process, ‘what do I need?’, so after reading this article you will feel at ease and confident about the most important things you need to do when implementing home care software.

What Do I Need to Implement a Care Home Software?

Many challenges come with introducing new care home software. Managers will need to take time and consideration to ensure all framework conditions are satisfied and to get everyone on board with understanding and accepting this new change. Then there is the pressure of choosing the right software company and tools that will benefit the care provider and users.

Every care business is different and has its own way of introducing new things into its normal routine. However, there are some things that are done right and things that could be done better. To help your care service move ahead with technology, here’s what you need to do.

1.      Identify Your Primary Goal

Deciding what your main goals are will be an essential step before implementing the software. For example, do you want to keep your care records secure and compliant but still accessible to staff? Or do you want to reduce medication errors through improved medication management? Is efficiency the key area you want to improve, or are safety and compliance your top priority?

Finding the answers to these questions, and understanding what your main priorities are, before moving forward will help ensure the system meets your needs once it is implemented.

If the technology is good and high-quality, then it should be able to meet most or all of the needs you will identify and there will be a range of subsidiary benefits. This can include staff having to spend less time on admin which means they will be able to spend more time with the people they care for. In return, this can improve the happiness of the service users which can help boost the rating and reputation of your care service.

2.      Assess Any Challenges

It’s only worth adopting digitisation if it’s going to help your care service move closer to its goals. Whether that may be delivering person-centred care, improving your quality of care or boosting your CQC rating, assessing the common problems with care home software is key to overcoming them. A great way to start this is by speaking to staff who have close relationships with the residents about areas that they think should be more effective and efficient.

They should also think about how to evolve working practices. For example, an accepted way to check on people at night is to enter their room multiple times throughout the night. However, this could be swapped over to acoustic monitoring, which is safer and avoids disturbing people’s sleep.

Also cover, assessing your Wi-Fi connection throughout the care home/nursing home OR ensuring your selected system has good offline working functionality (I.e. Care workers can continue to work, record stuff, update stuff, access records etc. without a connection, then once they get back online the app will ‘sync’ and update the records with the new info – hope that makes sense?

3. Scoping of the Configuration Elements

It’s advised that you scope the configuration elements of the application. These need to be sensible and in line with the recommendations from the provider. If you have certain processes on paper and you’ve always done it that way, and you decide to replicate that in a piece of technology but it doesn’t function well in that technology, you can end up wasting a lot of time and energy trying to get it to work.

However, if you just take the recommendation from the provider, it can save you a lot of time in the process and it allows you to get the most out of your new software.

4.      Manage the Change Properly

Once you’ve made your final decision on the software, you need to make sure you manage the change properly. Be sure to include all of the team, or if you’re operating a mid-large sized care home, representatives from different teams and roles, in your choices and the changes to expect, so they will be more accepting of their new way of working. You should appoint champions who can take control of the new software and support their teammates during the transition.

It will be harder to encourage some workers and for some people, picking up the new system will take longer than expected. However, showcasing the benefits of care home software and supporting them every step of the way will increase their confidence and may help them to pick things up quicker.

If possible, assigning a project manager and champions will help with managing the process of digitisation, ensuring that you reach the goals you plan to achieve and making them clear to the rest of the team. The length of the care home software implementation period will vary amongst care homes and many considerations can adjust this.

5. Consistency of Staff and Cover

When implementing care home software, you need to make sure you consider your consistency of staff and ensure that their shifts will be covered during training sessions.

Your team will need to be fully present during implementation, as they will need to attend many training sessions and take in all of the information provided. For this reason, it’s best to avoid introducing software during the holiday seasons or school holidays. If you have multiple staff off work for an extended period of time due to holidays, maternity leave, etc. then you should hold off on the project.

While digitisation will require a lot of your time and focus, your care service still needs to provide high-quality care during the transition. You also need to make sure you have adequate coverage during training sessions to continue high-quality care during the implementation process. This can be done by bringing in agency staff, temps, and staff from other homes or by adjusting your care team’s shifts accordingly.

6.      Identifying Your Champions

Champions are people within your care service who will drive, promote and lead the project to digitise your home or homes. They will need to be people who are enthusiastic about digitisation and the change, they must be great communicators and teachers and be good at bringing other members on board with them. Your champions should be chosen and involved as early as possible.

Please note that your champions don’t need to be senior members of staff. In fact, having champions from different areas of the organisation allows the team to have an insight into how the software implementation is progressing from all areas. It can encourage people to bring any issues and even unexpected benefits to the table if they work in the same role.

Your champions also don’t need to be professionals with technology as the features mainly used by carers (point-of-care) have to be easy to use for everyone. Having at least one ‘super-user’ in every care service will allow someone to gain and share the knowledge and expertise of the system. It makes sense to assign super-users as champions as it will encourage enthusiasm from all directions of the business.

7.      Adapt Your Policies and Processes

To avoid issues in the future, you should work with your supplier to adapt or change your policies and processes. This is often overlooked when transitioning to an electronic system, but your documents will be designed for paper processes so not making the changes could introduce risk into the business. These documents are often used by staff to understand their roles and responsibilities in handling medications.

The support you need to do so should be part of the ‘onboarding’ process. For example, if your eMAR supplier doesn’t offer this support, then you need to make sure that you’ve audited your own policy and procedure documents governing medicines before you start the implementation process. This can be a tedious, costly and disruptive process, so if the supplier is unable to support then make sure you include this into your plans and expectations.

8.      The Essential Hardware

Most care home software is now delivered on cloud i.e. you will not require on-premise installation like in the old days. This means that most care home software is accessed by care workers and other staff members via a mobile care app. So, care homes face a choice on whether they want to procure mobiles/tablets or use a ‘bring your own device’ (BYOD) policy, both have pros and cons:

Pros of Providing Hardware:

• You can rest assured that the devices are fully compatible with the new software and apps.
• Group training sessions on how to use the systems will be much easier, as everyone will be using the same device and can support and teach each other in times of need.
• You can protect and manage the devices to a high standard, reducing the risk of data leaks.
• You can install appropriate data encryption to protect data in case the device is lost or stolen – the risk of misplacement and theft is greatly reduced with managed devices.
• You can install appropriate malware and virus protection to avoid online attacks.
• It’s much easier to safeguard the devices as you can manage passwords and other safety measures that keep the staff, service users and the business safe.

Cons of Providing Hardware:

• Increased device management is required.
• It may take longer to train employees if they aren’t comfortable or used to using the mobile or tablet provided.
• Reduces choice in device type and capabilities.
• Increases the spend on hardware alongside storage, management and software licencing costs.

Pros of BYOD:

• Increases efficiency and productivity as employees will already feel comfortable using the device.
• Raises employee satisfaction as they won’t have to worry about learning how to use a new mobile/tablet.
• Allows greater choice in device type and capabilities.
• Cuts the spend on hardware alongside software licencing costs.
• Will reduce device management that would be required for business-owned devices.

Cons of BYOD:

• If employees have tasks they need to complete, they may struggle to switch off at the end of the day as they can be accessed and completed at home.
• Private information could leak due to devices being unprotected and unmanaged.
• Lack of data encryption capabilities on personal devices could increase the risk of data exposure if the device is lost or stolen – the risk of misplacement and theft increases with a personal device.
• Personal devices could contain malicious malware or apps that can make them more vulnerable to online attacks.
• Training could be made more complicated due to compatibility issues or different displays on different devices.
• Managing passwords, security passwords and other safety measures will fall onto the device owner, so you have no control over safeguarding.
• Your current IT infrastructure and tech support may need to be modified to become BYOD compliant.

The next challenge is to decide whether mobiles or tablets would work best for the job. If you’re planning to put a ‘bring your own device’ procedure in place, then a mobile phone may be the best option as there is a higher chance of your staff owning a smartphone over a tablet. However, tablets are cheaper and much easier to read and use, especially when filling in finicky forms and documents.

Which mobiles or tablets should you use? You may be tempted to opt for the cheapest possible model. However, you will need to assess for the performance of the devices you’re looking into, the way it processes data and storage, plus the amount of storage it comes with, and compatibility with the app you will be using.

Finally, you need to make sure you have the right infrastructure in place to support all of this change and new technology. For example, there is no point taking the plunge into digitisation if you haven’t upgraded your internet in 10 years, as it may not be able to support all of your devices and new software. So, you should carry out a major infrastructure project before implementing technology.

If you’re worried about making the wrong choice, your software supplier, or hardware suppliers they work with, should be able to advise you on whether a specific device should be suitable and compatible.

Start Your Journey to Digitisation

To summarise, when implementing care home software you need to have the right attitude, a good action plan and enough knowledge alongside the hardware required to use the system. You need to bring people from all different roles in your organisation into the planning process and ensure you take the right steps to get them to feel positive and confident about the new system.

The implementation will require plenty of time, patience and planning that will vary amongst care services depending on their circumstances. It’s often a demanding challenge that will do best when everyone involved puts in the same amount of effort, but the results will make the entire process worthwhile.

At the end of the day, your care service will be able to start using efficient and reliable tools that will optimise and simplify processes and improve your employee satisfaction and quality of care. If you’re looking for a personalised system from a company that has over 30 years of experience in the sector, then you should consider using Access Care Home Software.

We have helped many care businesses implement care home software. From start-ups to national and international providers. We have a structured and thorough implementation process for you and the experience to guide you through the process successfully. This will ensure your new software delivers maximum benefits.

If you are making the transition from paper to digital care records in your care home or nursing home you should download this FREE guide to digitising care records in residential care. It has all the mistakes to avoid and top tips to make sure your transition pays off as much as it can do. 

To learn more about our personalised care home systems and to start your digital journey, book a demo or contact us today.