A new poll reveals that Care home managers say the quality of care residents receive is being ‘sidelined’ because of time-consuming, manual processes that could be eliminated by better use of IT. Article By: Angeline Albert

A new poll of 100 care home managers across the UK has revealed that the vast majority (80%) believe care quality, productivity, and staff happiness are at risk but could be improved by technology that would free up the care workforce’s day.

Two-thirds of the 330 care home workers polled last May, admitted that care quality and nutritional needs are being ‘overlooked’ due to ‘outdated’ methods.

Three in five care homes (63%) thought introducing new technology would help reduce administrative burdens and make running their care homes easier.

Ollie Brand, chief executive of Zupa, commissioned the poll, conducted by Censuswide between 6-11 May 2022, said: “We know from previous research that care home staff are often overstretched, underpaid and in many cases, unhappy.

“We also know that care professionals are keen to have more time back in their day to improve job satisfaction, morale and care quality.

“Recognition that the right technology can help is critical to creating positive change across the sector but despite this, many care homes still fail to connect outdated processes and the key concerns raised by care workers today.”

Despite concerns about the impact manual processes such as paper-based documentation have on the quality of residents’ care, most care homes (52%) believed new technology was ‘too expensive’ to change the status quo of how things are done. All were surprised at the affordability of CQE

82% Agreed that selecting new care staff by instinct can lead to frustrating revolving-door recruitment & training.

The medical world arguably benefits the most from modern tech, and it could even help with staff retention. Technology can help in a wide range of ways, starting with recruitment – with the right management software, care homes can make the recruitment process much more streamlined and even make the training period even faster. Remember that the highest turnover rates are usually in the earlier stages of onboarding!

Plus, carers are more likely to stick around if the home is well-organised and makes the most of beneficial modern technology, such as medical wearables, digital care plans, and assistive technology. These being in place make managing and running the care home easier for staff members.

CQE is a unique online application because it both establishes and maintains care home cultures. It’s the care home culture that drive how carers behave – So, fixing cultures holds the key to creating a measurable and sustainable service. CQE also generates the documentary evidence and reports needed to prove continuing quality improvement to regulators and assessors.

Surveys, reports and demonstrably safe rotas – along with the supporting documentation prove to inspectors how leaders operate safely and consistently whilst pursuing continual quality improvement. If you are using the CQE system you’re heading towards outstanding with safeguarding innovations.

Adopting the application doesn’t require changing rota systems of existing recording processes either. That’s because it’s designed to introduce and enhance attitudes and alliances – not to replace existing admin – as it sits alongside the existing admin framework.