Direct Health is rolling-out an electronic call monitoring (ECM) solution from Advanced Heath & Care (Advanced), which includes iConnect, StaffPlan Roster, StaffPlan Monitor and Orange airtime, following a successful three month pilot.
The contract with Direct Health is Advanced’s biggest ECM order to date, with 2000 care workers planning to use iConnect and 200 staff expected to use StaffPlan Roster. Direct Health is one of the UK’s leading home care providers, delivering cost-effective care and support to 6,500 service users across 18 sites in the North and the Midlands.
Advanced’s iConnect provides a mobile point of care solution to carers in the community. In addition to delivering real-time task lists and care recipient data to care workers via their mobile phones, the solution records actual arrival and departure times. To prove attendance, care workers simply touch in and out at each visit, using their NFC-enabled mobile devices coupled with radio-frequency identification (RFID) tags fitted within service users’ homes. StaffPlan Monitor is the landline alternative to iConnect, enabling care works to record their arrival and departure times by dialling a free-phone number from the service user’s phone.
The data that is collected from iConnect and StaffPlan Monitor is fed back to Advanced’s Staffplan Roster system in real time, giving managers a holistic view of electronic timesheets so that they know exactly when staff arrive and depart from their shifts.
180 Direct Health care workers are currently using the iConnect solution on Samsung Tap mobile phones. Time and attendance information is then instantly fed back to StaffPlan Roster, which is managed by 15 office-based staff. All 2000 care workers are expected to be live with iConnect by September 2012.
Richard Gordon, Managing Director of Direct Health says, “We recognised the need for mobile solutions that could disseminate staff rosters and record accurate time and attendance information. These solutions were needed to ensure compliance, improve efficiency, assist with the administration of our workforce, deliver cost savings and further improve care delivery.”
Gordon continues, “We chose Advanced as our mobile solutions provider because the company is highly regarded in the care world and has one of the most professionally developed products. Importantly, Advanced could provide us with a comprehensive solution encompassing the software, mobile devices and airtime. This was a very compelling proposition.”
The pilot phase of the project ran from September 2011 until November 2011 and early indications are that the solutions are improving operational efficiency, transparency of information and workforce management. Direct Health is also expecting cost savings and anticipates a short payback period. In addition, local authorities are likely to have greater confidence in what they are billed.
Care workers are adapting well to the new iConnect solution following 30 minute training sessions. Paper rosters no longer need to be carried around and care workers on the road have instant, real-time access to their appointments, enabling them to spend less time on administration and more time delivering patient care.
iConnect is also making life easier for service users, as Gordon explains, “One of the benefits of the electronic call monitoring solution is that the new technology is far less intrusive. It removes the burden on our service users who are generally elderly people, to prove carer attendance by signing a paper document.”
Jim Chase, Managing Director of Advanced Health & Care says, “We are delighted that Direct Health is already seeing the benefits of using our electronic call monitoring solution. We have seen an enormous surge in demand for mobile solutions in the care sector due to their efficiency and cost saving benefits. We expect this demand to continue, especially as electronic call monitoring typically provides improvements in compliance as well as significant workforce efficiencies.”
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