Conversation is crucial in care. Our understanding is built on our ability to listen. Everyone who provides care is well aware of this dynamic. A lesson we learned over the past ten years by working with our users to improve processes, functionality and outcomes. We are creating our Care Voice Champions to ensure we continue to keep you close to our development process. 

Too often in technology, we have a ‘story in our back pocket’. An experience someone shared with us when we first started developing software solutions. This story is a great starting point, but it can become stale over time. As a result, developers find themselves working closely to the memory of a challenge, rather than the reality. 

Take care notes as an example. The original challenge was digitising a longstanding paper process. The story of carers filling bursting filing cabinets with lonely notebooks echoed in every developer’s ears. This led to several innovations, such as digitising the note-taking process, improving the quality of information available, and making notes easier to review. However, if we stopped talking at this point the innovations would stop too. Thanks to ongoing conversations we developed more specific functionality, like dictation to make recording notes easier, triggers to encourage note-taking at specific times and reporting suites to present the information gathered in more digestible and informative ways. 

We created our Care Voice Champions to keep the conversation going. 

At the start, we plan to communicate monthly. We will review the effectiveness of this approach and adjust the time frame as necessary. Crucially, it will be entirely up to members of the Care Voice Champions group to engage with a specific topic. We do not require or expect every member of the group to engage on every topic. We appreciate how limited care provider’s time is, and we will make sure this process is swift and simple. Starting out, engagement will primarily be conducted through surveys. 

There may be times when we want to have a direct conversation with certain members. These will be requested formally, and well in advance to ensure minimal disruption to your schedule. 

The ultimate goal is to build a continuous cycle of engagement and through that strong collaborative links with our Care Voice Champions. We want to make sure that everyone is involved in our journey as a product. We need to understand how you approach care, how our system supports your approach, and how we can work together to drive better outcomes for everyone involved. 

We know this will not be an easy process. Indeed, we anticipate a few stumbles along the way. That is why it is so important to us to involve you in the process. Stumbling is a natural part of moving forward, just as honest conversations are an essential part of growth. 

If you want to have a more direct hand in our growth, please, join Care Voice Champions. 

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When Wes Streeting announced his three key shifts for the National Health Service (NHS) at the Labour Party Conference at the end of September social care’s ears were burning. A move from analogue to digital, hospital to community and sickness to prevention is a move towards care. Clearly social care has a big part to play in the future of the NHS. And technology plays a crucial role in the future of social care. When applied correctly digital solutions empower us to improve both efficiency and outcomes. Which offers care technology a central role in the government’s ongoing attempts to stage a digital revolution in health and care. We all know the why, given social care’s enduring challenges. It is uncovering the precise, who, what, when, and how of the matter that remains something of a mystery.  

We recently headline sponsored the Home Care Association (HCA)’s Tech & Homecare conference. A day of insights, inquisition and understanding for leading home care providers and technology suppliers. On the day our CMO, Lee Gilbert, hosted a panel featuring a who’s who of digital rostering and AI suppliers discussing data, while The King’s Fund’s Pritesh Mistry joined HCA’s CEO Dr Jane Townson OBE to ask, ‘How can technology solutions help move care closer to home?’. The latter a conversation underpinned by the recently published, Nourish Care sponsored, study exploring ‘The reality of, and potential for, digitally enabled care in the community’. Reflecting the collaborative spirit of co-development that defines modern, outstanding care, these conversations detailed a variety of ongoing efforts to move social care from analogue to digital. Their success, their missteps, and the road still ahead. 

Chair: Lee Gilbert, CMO, Nourish 
Nuno Almeida, CEO, Nourish 
Steve Sawyer, Managing Director, Access Group 
Robin Batchelor, CEO, everyLife Technologies 
Matthew Bond, CEO, Borderless 
Abeed Mohammed, Co-founder, Birdie

There is already a wealth of positive examples of technology improving care quality. Providers applied digital solutions to a selection of the challenges they face. Both The King’s Fund research, and each of the panellists, presented their own positive instances. Pritesh detailed several different, key, areas that are already befitting from digital solutions, such as communication, care co-ordination and personalisation. Dr Townson added to this during their conversation, highlighting some Local Authority’s recent adoption of ‘magic notes’ as an example of technology changing people’s lives. 

The panel built upon these cases with a specific focus on utilising existing data in systems. Matt Bond shared how Borderless share and aggregate data to pass benefits to individual people by finding the gaps in your existing service. The other four panellists all pointed to the efficiency their respective rostering platforms bring to care providers. When Robin Batchelor brought attention to the current inflection point in care technology it resonated around the room. Nuno Almeida agreed, “We’ve spent 14 years building the foundations. It’s not rocket science; the rocket science lies in your ability to react to needs.” 

That is the crux of the matter, when we move from analogue to digital, we have to retain our focus on people’s needs. The ability to react to these needs is defined by our ability to engage with them. One of the biggest fears about moving from analogue to digital is based in the apprehension of losing the human touch that has always guided health and care in the UK. A fact reflected in two of the recommendations from the King’s Fund’s research. The need to ‘Shift culture to embrace the public’s digital capability’ and ‘Support staff to embed tech in their roles’. Neither of which are groundbreaking discoveries, but do require fresh ideas to address. Such as Scottish Care’s Care Technologist role. We know the potential of carers, their adaptability and commitment to any idea that can improve outcomes for their community.  

What we need to do is make engaging with, and championing, care technology a simpler process. Which is not something that can be done overnight. “Asking people what is important to them is the biggest gap in our data,” admitted Nuno during the panel. “But this is also a big opportunity for us, asking, ‘What will really make a difference?’” The more we can involve people in the design process, the more ‘frontline’ feedback we can apply to our development. This co-production keeps people at the heart of care technology, which is crucial as we move to put technology at the heart of care.

Dr Townson concisely summarised this issue during her talk with Pritesh. ‘Technology for technology’s sake is not progress’. Innovation cannot be disruption in care, the standard approach for technology entering a new sector. The responsibilities are too great. We have to understand the barriers and develop enablers for adoption in the workforce and communities they support. Any one software solution aiming to promote wrap around care and support needs to ask itself a simple question. ‘How will the care providers work alongside our tech?’ 

Pritesh highlighted the need for this focus in his research with The King’s Fund. One of the recommendations from this research underlines the need to ‘develop strategies for co-developing digitally enabled services’. Specifically raising the point that developing a strategy for co-development and patient-led service design will help to direct digital service development and strategy. While this suggestion calls for action from ICSs, ICPs, the NHS and the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC), it speaks to all digital suppliers and providers in social care. The move from analogue to digital in care must involve people at every step, or it is sure to get lost.

Nuno spoke about the need to ‘crawl, walk, then run, to get to data quality’. A process that rings true for all forms of digital technology. When The King’s Fund recommends ‘A national vision to guide local decisions’ it is not calling for a direct mandate. It is asking for a personalisable framework. ‘A guiding national vision, with local flexibility as to how it is achieved. One that will help to align the efforts of technology innovators, health and care providers, and leaders designing improved community-based services.’  

The HCA’s conference was an example of just that endeavour. A selection of leaders, creators and providers sharing experiences and ambitions to help shape the future of care as we move from analogue to digital. One based in the commitment to collaboration that makes care the beating heart of our communities. After all, if you’re going to solve a mystery machine, it’s best to do it with a gang. 

Growth is a winding road. In October 2023 Nourish Care acquired CarePlanner Home Care Software. The merger brought together two leading social care software solutions for care homes and home care respectively. More than this, it brought together two teams who already shared a philosophy for collaborative software development, and a passion for supporting care providers on their digital journey. Over the past year we combined experiences, shared perspectives and continued to develop best in class functionality for our users, alongside our users, to drive better outcomes for everyone involved. 

To celebrate an incredible 12 months, we caught up with some of the old guard from CarePlanner. We discussed the past year, what they’ve been up to, and why they’re excited for what’s still to come. 

Combining two companies is a large, but delicate process. One that requires balancing different teams, responsibilities and skills with new opportunities and ambitions. CarePlanner’s Operations Director, now Nourish’s Director of Operational Excellence, Mark Gutteridge was instrumental throughout this transition.  

“I oversaw the nuts and bolts side of bringing the two businesses together,” explained Mark. “Things like the processes, the way we work, the policies, making sure everything was aligned. That was the first six months. Since March of this year, my team are responsible for streamlining processes, putting in place new systems, and helping the business remain efficient as we continue to grow and onboard new customers. 

“It was a big undertaking, and our guiding philosophy throughout was making sure we always asked the question ‘Why?’. It was a key case of prioritizing what was important and what would make a difference to our users. We brought the two companies together so we would both be stronger. We really wanted to deliver on that potential. 

“There’s always a teething period with substantial changes like this. But once things settled down the benefits became obvious.  We used to say to ourselves that CarePlanner wanted to do a lot of things, but they didn’t always happen as swiftly as we’d like. When you look at how swiftly we’re launching new features like our eLearning solution now it’s inspiring. We’re able to respond much more quickly and effectively to our users and their experiences. I think that it’s been crucial in terms of making sure we continue to support our users and provide a market-leading product and service. Which is a really exciting place to be.” 

Understanding is central to building anything effectively. At Nourish and CarePlanner Home Care Software that understanding has always come from our users. Both companies boast team members with care experience. The combination of our Product teams, along with some experienced new leadership joining the fold, sharpened our focus, while at the same time unlocking whole new ideas to explore.   

“The new structure builds upon our established user led approach with a wealth of experience and clinical expertise,” explained Product Manager Robert Baker. “Their focus on the clinical safety and the clinical side of the product is invaluable. It empowers us to understand the best practice around our software so we can shape our functionality to best respond to our user’s needs. We always want to stay as close to the lived experience of care as possible. Because it helps us tailor Nourish to the specific needs and use cases, some of which we’d never discover on our own! 

“Fundamentally, the new structure keeps us focused on outcomes. Our attention is firmly on the problems we need to solve. Our teams have the resources and autonomy to respond to customer’s needs in a way that was previously unattainable. This means we can focus on developments for all sides of the Nourish platform, and any of the care types we support, with established care contacts and personal experience to guide us.” 

Product teams focused on how to capitalise on our future opportunities to improve outcomes for our users. However, there remained the sizable task of bringing together the functionality the two companies already built for their respective platforms. We spoke to Lead Developer Martin Joiner about how they addressed this undertaking, and the benefits of bringing fresh eyes and open minds to old challenges.  

“When we first joined together we were faced with two pieces of software with a lot of unique functionality,” explained Martin. CarePlanner’s home care software and Nourish’s residential. So, it was important to find the denominators. There are a lot of similarities between the systems as well. Features repeated across many platforms like: What does a profile look like? What information does it contain? How is an address formatted? General architecture like that. Lining these points up is a lot of work, but it is vital. We took small steps, one at a time to ensure we aligned the systems closely while still retaining the strengths of the previous structures. 

“Of course, just like in care, the real strength came from our people. With so many new people to talk to and work with there are so many opportunities to share best practice. We can ask ‘Why?’ whenever our curiosity is peaked and learn from each other. There are few things better for a problem than fresh eyes and informed opinions. We all value understanding why we are building something. And this close relationship with the purpose of our development process is reflected throughout Nourish’s tech teams. Another key denominator that has shaped our success over the past year. Leading to new developments like TARS, Time Off and eLearning for Nourish home care users.” 

Even on the technical level we find ourselves coming back to the importance of aligning on a human one. Personal connections define us all, especially when it comes to building productive, collaborative relationships in every aspect of our business. A maxim held true in both Nourish and CarePlanner. 

CarePlanner Home Care Software may have been the industry standard for rostering technology. However, its reputation was built on more than technology, it was built on relationships. Nourish shares that focus on personal connections. A prerequisite requirement for the merger, and a substantial relief to the customer-facing teams on both sides of the acquisition.  

“As Account Managers our first focus is always on the customers,” said Head of Account Managers Lauren Ware. “We build close connections with our customers because all Account Managers have dedicated accounts they work with. It delighted us to learn Nourish has the same approach. Thanks to the resources Nourish brings to bear on sector challenges our functionality and integrations have gone from strength to strength over the past year. This empowers Account Managers to unlock new opportunities for our users, and address long-standing challenges.  

“It’s one thing to be told your philosophy aligns with another company, it’s a different thing to see it for yourself. Care is a fundamentally human undertaking. For all the changes the sector and we experienced over the past few years, that remains the constant. In Nourish we found partners who share that focus, and the results speak for themselves.” 

The driving impetus of the acquisition was to make both solutions stronger. A combination of experience and insight to drive positive outcomes internally and externally for both businesses. One of the biggest changes this caused was for our support teams, whom we combined and specialised to best respond to our users in a timely and effective fashion. 

“Bringing together the best of both Nourish and CarePlanner Support teams has been an exciting journey,” detailed Head of Technical Support Cian Connolly. “One that has strengthened our focus on what matters most, our customers. Over time, as the dust of the merger settled, we came to understand the needs of users and the strengths of our colleagues. This inspired us to develop two teams, Customer Support and Technical Support. 

“With the move to dedicated Customer Support and Technical Support teams, we’re positioned to provide faster, more tailored solutions. Ensuring every interaction is both meaningful and effective. I’m incredibly proud of our team’s commitment and am excited for the future as we continue to raise the bar for customer experience in care technology!” 

CarePlanner Home Care Software belongs to the past. But the people, platform and purpose that shaped it for over a decade remain in place. Committed to the same goals, and the same communities to whom we have always owed allegiance. Nourish is now the largest supplier of social care software solutions in the UK. With over 400k people supported through Nourish and 350k carers driving positive outcomes for their communities every day. A responsibility we all take great pride and purpose in. 

The future remains an open horizon, and we have some fantastic company, and a stellar company, to join us on the journey. 

Why don’t you come too? 

Change is an uncertain thing by design. We grow and improve through change, but that does not mean we always know exactly how. The Care Quality Commission (CQC) is in a transitional period. A period whose challenges reverberate across the social care sector and beyond, raising hopes, but also questions. We recently hosted a CQC webinar where Chris Day, CQC’s Director of Engagement, answered the most prominent questions submitted by Nourish Care users. As put to him by our Director of Customer Success, Ruth Norman.  

We learned of an organisation adapting to the needs of its community and building for the future. An organisation with enough self-awareness to recognise the mistakes it’s made, and the vision to correct them in the continuing pursuit of their person-centred, technology-enabled, ambitions.  

“The next steps of this journey for us is very much working with you so you and our colleagues who inspect have a really clear and collective understanding of what good looks like.” – Chris Day, Director of Engagement, CQC 

The CQC webinar was exclusively for Nourish users. We selected some of Chris Day’s most prominent insights below.  

If you are interested in joining Nourish and working with regulators, commissioners and communities to build the future of social care together, book a demo today. 

At the heart of the new inspection framework is a realisation. The CQC felt they were too focused on processes, not outcomes. The new approach focuses on outcomes, on the voice of the people and using the service and the staff supporting them. ‘I’ statements are designed to reflect what an individual expects from their service, and the ‘We’ statements illustrate how a service responds to those expectations. The CQC are eager to connect the dots between services with their new assessment framework. However, they acknowledge the work needed to refine how ratings translate across the 18 sectors they regulate and want to work with providers to address this. 

Chris highlighted the importance of re-establishing the link between providers and their local inspectors. He admitted the CQC overlooked the importance of these relationships when establishing the single assessment framework. The quality of these local relationships is crucial for building trust. They will launch a series of pilot programmes for local inspector hubs in October 2024 and will share further information for attendees through Nourish. The CQC want to give people the ability to talk to their inspectors without an inspection. To know and understand their inspectors through continued engagement. To build trust at a local level and share best practise.   

“A manifestation of care planning reality,” said Chris.  The biggest delineator of ratings comes down to the extent providers understand the issues they face. Including those outside their control, and crucially, what they are doing to address them. They want providers to show the relationship between the care planning, the training, the way observations are taken and the way support is given. It is important to give your team the confidence to connect data and information with people’s lived experiences. And the comprehension to explain those connections to inspectors. It’s not about providing a wealth of raw data. Care plans are more than a box-ticking exercise. How you tell the narrative story matters.  

Specifically, during our CQC webinar, Chris advised providers to use ‘edge’ or ‘outlier’ cases. Rather than a uniform overview of similar care plans. The new framework focuses on how a care plan reflects how you deliver care. How the person utilising support and their family experiences the care and how the specifics of your service’s context shape the care. Show the journey.  

First and foremost, it is important to understand the portal has several different functions. Chris spoke about the registration, notification and assessment functions during our CQC webinar. Fundamentally, the technology behind the portal isn’t working in the way they wanted. While notifications are functioning and will continue to do so, registration and factual accuracy checks are not. The CQC recognise how important it is to keep these services running, and so will be reverting to the pre-portal approach for both. Those who have completed or nearly completed their registration through the portal will not need to redo it in the old fashion, while those earlier in the process will be supported to switch methods. They are building out their registration team to expedite this process. Further information will be shared with Nourish users shortly.  

“I think we’ve let you down in terms of the time it takes to process registrations and take forward inspections,” said Chris. Addressing this swiftly is the key motivator for moving back to the older systems. They will be able to increase the number of registrations and inspections they conduct by returning to systems they are familiar with.  

The CQC looks to divide registrations between complex and ‘transactional’ needs, to help resolve simpler registration requests quickly. They will still use the quality statements for inspections, rather than key lines of enquiry, with the older process. “We know we had higher productivity pre covid with the inspection approach we took,” explained Chris. 

 The priority of inspections going forward for the CQC is ‘to form a view of the quality that someone who is going to use that service can expect’. They are currently undertaking modelling for inspection timelines and rates and are expecting to finish the modelling in November. Once the modelling is completed the CQC will share it with Nourish and providers. 

Naturally there was apprehension in our chat about the order of urgency of inspections. While the priority will be on addressing known harm, uninspected newly registered services and services ranked poorly who have had time to improve, Chris acknowledges the need to focus on inspections that show the positive changes providers have implemented. They are growing teams and their use of clinical experts to increase their inspection capacity. 

For those uncertain about how long this will take it is important to remember, when key lines of enquiry were first brought in, the CQC inspected every service in their charge over three years.  

Currently there are a range of experience and comfort levels with care technology in their workforce. A major part of inspector training is to ensure they understand the technology available to providers. Something they are eager to work with Nourish on developing.  Chris acknowledges the significant role technology can play in helping the CQC establish a ‘common view of quality in adult social care’.  

Data is a huge opportunity for care. Normally data is centred on the NHS. Access to real time information increases the understanding of care and service performance. Which in turn drives positive change. Bringing commonality to how data defines quality care is no easy feat, and there is a journey still to go on. However, Chris knows from previous work that data information is often at the heart of positive changes organisations have made and it has an important part to play in shaping the future of health and care. Including conversations about the long-term funding of health and care. 

As the hour drew to a close we posed a selection of questions from the session to Chris. Here is a brief overview of his responses. 

The CQC plans to review their inspection ratings in the near future. Their goal is always to triangulate data to get a full picture of the quality of a service. The primary goal being to establish these ratings as a more narrative description of the care you can inspect, rather than simply a ‘score’. 

The provider ‘handbook’ for inspections was recently approved. Over the next four to eight weeks the CQC will engage with providers to develop it. 

Understanding risk is crucial to justifying it. With specific regard to concerns over how the CQC will review potentially risky activities that increase quality of life for people drawing on support. This reiterates the need to rebuild trust between providers and inspectors Chris discussed earlier in the CQC webinar.  

Their ambition for Local Authority inspections to relate to provider inspections. The CQC are committed to providing further context for provider inspections by better understanding the worlds in which they operate.  

“That’s my ambition,” concluded Chris. “It’s not where we are at the moment, but I’d really like to do that. I’m happy to come back and talk about the Local Authority stuff moving forward.” 

The CQC are building for the future. But in order to do that they know they have to rebuild trust with the adult social care sector. There remains a great deal of work ahead of all of us to achieve the ambitions of the regulator and providers alike. Ultimately, we are all unified in our vision of better, more person-centred, care.  

Nourish are committed to working with everyone involved in the process, so we can change with confidence and drive better outcomes as a result. Join Nourish today to avail of future CQC webinars, integrated innovations and community led care technology.

At Nourish Care we’re committed to continuously improving the accessibility and inclusivity of our technology, working towards our goal of developing a solution which truly works for everyone. We spoke to our Head of Product Design, Kate Horn, to learn more about our approach to embedding accessibility and inclusivity at the heart of our product design process.

“Accessibility and inclusivity have accidentally become a bit buzzwordy in the design world recently,” explains Kate, “and most definitely in health tech design. Why? Finally, we are all talking about ensuring that anyone can access the products we are creating. At Nourish these are not just words, they form the basis of design values that go right to our core, we are person-centred. We believe in a better life for everyone. To achieve this, we need to make sure anyone and everyone can use Nourish.”

“Honestly? They mean quite a lot of different things! 

“It is a common misconception that when we talk about accessibility, we are only talking about how we apply colours to designs and how we can make it high contrast. This is a factor, but it barely scratches the surface of the work to be done to make a platform, or an app genuinely accessible to anyone who wishes to use it.  

“Hold on a moment though, we are talking here about using something that is in your hand already. We need to take a step back and think about the technology and very basic level of access first and how, as designers, we can get the app into your hand or onto your desktop in the first instance. Given that you are reading this digitally, this is clearly not a problem for you but consider this; in 2022, 13-19 million people in the UK over 16 lived in a state of digital poverty. That means they did not have the tech, skill, or resources to fund internet access on one or more occasions a week.  

We cannot just build for the latest and most shiny versions of everything. Accessibility means we need to think about making sure what we create is available to everyone. In a way which does not exclude people, starting at the point of access and empowering them to enjoy the full experience of the platform.

“Inclusive” needs to go even further and it is worthy of a blog post on its own. For now, I want to touch on the importance of ensuring that inclusivity extends to individuals feeling genuinely included, seen and represented within our platforms.

First of all, we aim for the highest possible standard. There is a framework for accessibility in digital design for us to follow called WCAG. Within this there are levels, the highest of which is standard 2.2. This is what we strive to achieve. Standard 2.2 covers everything from the use of text, audio, layout, contrast, colour, platform adaptations, use of imagery, operational considerations, inputs, consistency of design and ensuring the platform is robust. And that’s just to start!

It is a solid start, however, a framework does not go far enough for accessibility and it doesn’t answer the requirement for inclusivity. To achieve this, there are several other elements to consider, starting with words.

Words are a powerful way for us to be both engaging and human, when used correctly. They are also one of the quickest ways for us to disconnect people from Nourish. If we describe areas of the platform or tasks using inhuman or technical language you first have to understand what we really mean and then have to choose if you really want to do it. We’re to make things simpler for you, not more complicated! So, step one for us is to speak in common English and start to create a comfortable experience.

Next on that list is understanding who we are designing for. This requires us to become so embedded in the health and care sector that we are a part of the furniture. Great insight means we understand the everyday challenges the people who are using our platform experience. This ensures we craft experiences for our platforms that work to solve these problems in a way that is comfortable for everyone.  

Throughout this blog I have used the words “anyone” and “everyone”. These are crucial terms for defining our approach. Typically, designers aim to design for the bell curve, that is, the biggest group of users.  

We simply cannot do this in health and social care. We have to step back and design solutions that truly work for anyone. This “flattening” of the curve is really important. It goes to the core of what we work to achieve as a company and the heart of our values as a design team. We want to create technology to truly wrap around the user in a great experience.

As users of Nourish will know, we’re continuously improving the accessibility and inclusivity of the platform, these really aren’t just buzzwords to us. We are working towards our goal of creating a system which can be easily used by anyone. There’s always more that can be done but by keeping these principles and our users at the heart of our design processes we are able to keep our person centred goals firmly in sight. 

Book a demo to find out more about Nourish and how we can work with anyone, and everyone in your community. 

Social care is in a state of change. Care providers tasked with being the steady hand through this change have consistently risen to the challenge. Despite having little control over the changes as they happen. At Nourish Care we are embracing this change by working with our users to develop a social care future we are all proud of.  With increasing standards, new regulations and extended funding availability it is clear now why so many care providers are embracing change themselves and switching to Nourish.  

Care providers have a wealth of options when choosing a digital partner. Under the original standards for the NHS Assured Solutions List (ASL) there are 24 Digital Social Care Records (DSCRs) to choose from. That’s without mentioning the systems who don’t reach these standards. The ASL is enjoying notable success so far, as it continues to work towards its target of 80% of care providers on DSCRs. Digitisation is widespread through social care now. To the point that many care providers are shopping around for a better system to match their service. 

The ASL was always intended as a starting point for the digitisation of social care. The Department of Health and Social Care has announced the second step of this journey, with the recent release of the 14 new standards for DSCRs on the ASL. We are one of the few providers to have achieved all 14 of these standards. You can read about the specifics of the standards here. 

We are the largest software supplier to have achieved the new standards. As well as being one of the first to get listed on the ASL following its initial launch. Our legacy of forward thinking and innovation consistently aligns us with the future direction of the social care sector. We are proud to be working closely with key decision makers in health and social care.  

We support care in a huge variety of settings. Including older person’s care, nursing, home care, learning disabilities, dementia, supported living, assisted living, substance abuse, mental health, children and young people and more. Each care setting is unique, and each care setting requires specific understanding to support effectively. 

Our experienced and understanding customer success and support teams will work with you to make sure our system fits your service. Whatever your needs are, and whatever they may become in the future.  

Once you switch to Nourish, we are with you every step of your journey. Should your journey lead you to new business opportunities we are the best equipped software supplier in social care to support your expansion. Whether you are focussed on a single type of care or support a range of different needs. 

You can also scale your functionality as desired, thanks to our comprehensive partnership programme. The programme unites key best-in-class innovators like Camascope for eMAR, Radar for incident management and PainChek for pain management. All while keeping a finger on the pulse for emerging technologies that will substantially impact the social care sector. 

Additionally, we offer more in-depth data packages called ‘Insights’ and ‘Analytics’. These features provide a much richer insight into the data gathered across your service. Perfect for larger care providers who collect vast swathes of information every day, but have no clear way to transform this potential into insightful, actionable information. 

The Care Quality Commission’s (CQC) rollout of their new Single Assessment Framework (SAF) is enduring some understandable teething challenges. Initialisms aside the ambition of the project remains clear. The regulator wants to streamline processes and better respond to the needs of the people who draw upon care.  

We facilitate these new developments as effectively as possible. We work with organisations like the Care Software Providers Association (CASPA) to share our voice and insights on the development of digital social care with key decision makers in local and national government. Our work on alignment with #socialcarefuture helps to guide the future of our system as much as they guide the future of the wider care communities. Socialcarefuture are the co-authors of the ‘I/We Statements’ that define the SAF scoring.  

There is always something new to be considered, a fresh function to be explored or a new piece of legislation to be adhered to.  

We cannot know the future; all we can do is prepare for it. We have read the tea leaves, built our houses from stone and made hay while the sun shone. All so we can continue to lead the way in digital social care, through innovation, understanding and collaboration. 

Social Care is in a state of change, and with that ever-present uncertainty comes a great opportunity. Switch to Nourish today and take control of your change, with your team, your service and your community.  

Connection is at the heart of care. We are defined by the bonds that link us to our communities. Bonds that came under intense stress throughout covid. A stress that is slowly easing as we work to rebuild our connections. A new fundamental standard has been established protecting the rights of residents to visitors and accompaniment. The new amendment in question builds upon the Health and Social Care Act 2008 and is a seen as a positive development for the sector by many providers.  

However, it will raise challenges around safeguarding and record keeping for residential care providers. Visitors are fantastic, but all activity in a care home needs to be monitored to some extent, and a sudden influx of guests and requests can swamp any team. Fortunately, there is technology available that can help you manage, monitor and promote connections in your community. 

In effect, the new regulation ensures: 

Crucially, this right is now a fundamental standard for the Care Quality Commission. Which means that they can include it in their inspection framework. This is a welcome development for families and care rights activists. Indeed, the opportunity to promote connections is a welcome development for everyone in care. Though care providers need to ensure that this new regulation is implemented safely and securely. 

Care homes welcoming more visitors will increase the strength of connections in their communities. It will also increase the need for protections for their residents. Policies and procedures are essential to safeguarding the people who draw upon their support. These policies and procedures will need to be consented by and applied to all visitors. Providers ensure the safety of their residents by adhering to this process. 

These are challenges that are made more complex when using a paper-based registration system. Visitors sign in and out in one book, which raises privacy concerns by publicly displaying visitor’s personal information. A book that quickly becomes a litany of GDPR pitfalls and unutilised data.

e-Reception Book offers a safe, secure and simple solution to these challenges. The iPad based system logs all visitors and contractors. A digital login provides a secure and positive experience upon entry, one that guarantees alignment with the relevant regional and personal standards of your service. You can fully brand your login to provide a modern and welcoming first impression of your home to start all new relationships off on the right foot! 

Staff can also sign in through the system. Set up access control fobs or a smartphone applications so your team can easily check in and out of their shifts. This has the added benefit of giving your managers a fully up to date staff attendance record. One that can be easily evidenced to regulators as part of the new single assessment framework. 

The new regulation is widely welcomed by the social care community because it promotes more visitors to care homes. E-Reception Book not only supports and simplifies this process, but it can also be used to encourage it. With e-Reception Book it is possible to register guests in advance of them arriving at your care home. This allows for a more seamless and efficient check-in experience, as all their information will be prepopulated when they arrive.  

Additionally, you have the option to send pre-registered guests an invitation email in your branding, containing information on who they will be meeting, details on the time and date of the meeting, directions and a QR code for scanning upon arrival. You can even set up notifications so that your carers are made aware of when a visitor arrives at the home. 

Enhance your care by utilising the abundance of data at your fingertips. The e-Reception Book dashboard gives you a comprehensive overview of visitor and staff check-in history. It also provides an overview of your visitor history, fire list and site settings. It allows you to export detailed reports, based on your visitor categories. A useful tool for tracking, analysing and evidencing your visitor information. For multi home providers there is also a global dashboard that enables you manage a centralised staff check-in system while still allowing for customisation so you can set up site-specific requirements and visitor experiences as desired. 

The e-Reception Book contains a suite of further features for care homes. Up to date fire evacuation lists, document signing immediately saved to your database, a comprehensive staff companion app to keep them informed and feedback capture when checking out of the care home. All of which is manageable, recordable and evidencable from one simple platform. With roles and permissions to make sure that you only give access to this information to who you want, and not just anyone able to pick up the book. 

Digitisation makes things simpler by design. This is an easier bridge to build when dealing with technical processes. When dealing with something as fundamentally human as promoting personal connections between residents and visitors there is an understandable scepticism. With digitisation the gap between intention and application can be significant when improperly pursued. A gap we’ve seen appear with new social care regulations as well. Learn how you can bridge this gap and promote connections with e-Reception Book.    

Teamwork makes the dream work, though a good partnership is hard to find. At Nourish Care we are committed to working with our users throughout their digitisation journey. A journey that continues beyond tomorrow’s horizon and into the future of care. The results of our partnerships are present for the over 385,000 people who are cared for with Nourish software solutions. People define partnerships, and by putting partnerships at the centre of our approach we ensure that people are always our focus.  

From the moment you first speak to Nourish there will be someone on our side working with you every step of your journey. This applies to care providers of all shapes, sizes and disciplines. 

Digitisation can take time, whether you are looking to reshape systems or just starting off your journey. We make sure all our users have the right guidance alongside them to make this process as smooth as possible for your team and as specific as necessary for your community.  

Project managers are available to help care home groups and large franchises transition to Nourish. They work with your team to ensure an effective digital rollout. We have dedicated customer success managers to work with medium and smaller care providers, as well as being another helping hand for large groups. These managers are adept at supporting the unique needs that emerge when providing care for your community. They know how to guide our users during their set-up process to ensure you receive the maximum benefits from Nourish. 

Our partnership doesn’t end at the onboarding. We continually work with our users. Offering you an open line and a dedicated point of contact for your service, so you can continue to grow the way you want to and flourish with Nourish. You can read more about how Nourish has supported the teams and growth of home care providers Nexus Care and Priory Group’s care homes.

Visit our Case Studies page for more examples.

Expertise is essential to success, and our partnerships with services excel at combining our knowledge with yours. We have researched and developed robust libraries alongside care and clinical professionals with a deep understanding of the sector and needs of the population. Each library contains interactions, assessments, care plan templates and more for managing specific pathways, conditions, needs and day-to-day operational requirements. 

We combine this wealth of best practise and experience with your understanding of your community’s needs. Nourish boasts a depth of customisability. This promotes the individuality of your service in line with the established requirements of commissioners and regulators. The only assets that are not customisable are locked to ensure compliance with a particular protocol or standard. This empowers your coordinators to wrap your system around your service and provide for the specific needs of your community. 

There is a reason we are the largest software supplier for social care in the UK. We do not settle for general. Nourish is filled with functionality that supports the unique requirements of different care types. Including residential, domiciliary, nursing, assisted living, learning disabilities and many more. 

Strong rostering is the backbone of efficient home care management. We built our rostering with over a decade of experience working with home care providers. It can be set up on repeating schedules of up to a month. Our drag and drop rostering and customisable carer rating system gives you the tools to quickly adapt to changing circumstances with your workforce and the people they support. Your rostering can then be simply invoiced and time-sheeted with our comprehensive finance functionality. Ensuring you pay everyone the right amount at the right time.  
 
Nourish’s mobile app for home care is another product of our strong partnerships with care services. We work with providers to keep our app up to date and empowering their care teams and communities. Carers know where they’re going and what they’re doing, while keeping you up to date on how it went through their appointment notes and audit tracker.  Travel times, upcoming schedule, care types, medications and notes are all designed alongside carers and available offline. So your team have everything they need, anywhere they go.

Nourish is designed by care professionals for busy care environments, combining icons, imagery and text to create a smooth, easy experience. Keeping carers informed is crucial in residential settings as well. The care plan summary on our care home mobile app provides a detailed and concise snapshot on mobile for a particular need to ensure nothing gets missed and you have all the information available. Carers have access to all the information on the mobile app which empowers care teams. They can see the handover, review recent and historic appointment notes. A level of autonomy unrivalled by any other DSCR platform. The app also features ‘back’ and ‘save’ buttons wherever you go so no records can be lost when completing a record/interaction. 
 
Data is a hot topic, but one that has burnt the finger of many a service. With Nourish managing data can become a simple part of your daily process. We provide several prebuilt dashboards within our system to provide data oversight to your team. These dashboards can become a cornerstone or a starting off point for your team’s application of data. We have experienced people on our team to help you get what you need from your data in your reporting. So you can focus on providing, responsive, effective care.

All of our success at Nourish has come through collaboration. Collaboration between our teams, between our integration partners and between our users. We believe the best solutions are produced through teamwork. A process without an end, but an enduring, enjoyable journey. We’re in this for the long haul, with true partnerships, the lasting kind.  

Care to join us? 

Digital technology is a key part of the future of social care. A future the majority of care providers have already embraced. Digital social care records are a common sight, and many users are familiar with the benefits and potential of digital technology. Benefits that vary from platform to platform. The decision is no longer about finding a digital platform, but about finding the right digital platform for your service. An increase in digital literacy and skills experienced across the social care workforce has led many providers to reconsider their care management platforms, and shop around for new options before switching digital social care records systems.  

If you are shopping around for a better platform for your service but are concerned about the process of switching to a new digital social care records system, we understand. The change from one digital platform to another is not the same as ‘going digital’ in the first place.  

We put together this blog, based on our extensive experience onboarding users to our platform, to help familiarise care providers with the realities of switching digital platform. 

As with all things in care technology, and all things in care in general, people play the defining role. Switching systems is not going to be seamless. The simple reality of the technology is there is no small combination of clicks that will move your database from one system to another. They are not built for it. That’s why people still define the experience. 

Our user support teams, from onboarding, to client success and support have years of digital care experience. As well as many of us having started our careers in care. We understand the challenges of changing on both a technical and emotional level. 

Switching digital social care records means different things for different providers. Much like when first picking a system, the process is shaped by your unique service. Our experienced teams will take the time to get to know what makes you unique, guiding you through the transition.  

Our focus is on collaboration, throughout all stages of your Nourish Care experience. We are active participants alongside you, to ensure you retain everything you need from your previous records and can apply it appropriately to the features of your new system. This collaborative process helps reduce the impact of the transition on your teams and the people utilising your service, especially for larger providers with multiple branches. 

It is vital you have the records you need, when you need them. Our focus on collaboration means you can highlight the hierarchy of information you need transferred, in a secure, and reliable way. Throughout this process it is crucial your data is kept secure.  Nourish is at the forefront of digital security standards. 

We work with the Professional Records Standards Body to develop standards for social care. We are also fully ISO 27001:2022 certified in line with Local Authority commissioning guidance and Cyber Essentials Plus certified. These certifications reflect our commitment to preserving the confidentiality, integrity and availability of your system.  

Data requires storage and Nourish backs up data continuously to a cloud-based system. We do not use onsite data stores and all our cloud-provided solutions are backed up automatically and built into our disaster recovery plan and testing. This ensures the highest standard of security for the data of our users and the people they support. 

A new system is a whole new world, a new fantastic point of view. You can build upon the processes you have previously developed or create new ones. We have a deep library of resources available for all our users, backed up by our experienced and understanding support teams.  

There is no set way to apply digital systems to your service and community. It is a natural learning process discovering how to best utilise the tools at your disposal. At Nourish we have seen our users come up with creative and innovative applications, specific to the needs of the people who draw upon their support. In fact, some of these ideas have proven so effective we’ve asked to share them with other Nourish users!  

Everything should be as simple as it can be, but not simpler. An adage that proves truer with each new piece of digital technology released in social care. In the past five years we’ve seen simplicity give way to necessity, and now necessity turn into potential. Finding the right digital partner for your service can help unlock your potential for the future. The process can be intimidating at the start, but with the right people, and the right support, you’ll only have to change systems once. 

If you’d like to find out more about the benefits and process of switching to Nourish contact us. 

Digital technology has rooted itself in social care over the past few years. There are a lot of options for care providers looking digital social care software, ranging in size, shape and functionality. Over 60% of providers have some form of digital social care records, with more digitising every month. This shows the adaptability of the care sector as it utilises new tools to address long standing challenges. However, with these new tools come new challenges too, and many providers are starting to realise not just the power of using digital technology, but the potential of using the right digital technology. 
 
Finding the right technology is like finding the right people. You must know who you are and what you want, to get what your service needs. Are you looking for cutting edge innovations and reporting to transform your processes? Do you want to shape your system to your community and improve how you engage with the people you support’s circle of care? Is reliability, in both technology and people, your focus? Your requirements list may include all of these and so much more, your current digital system may meet some of your requirements but might fall down in other areas. It’s important to review whether your current system is working for your service and if there might be a better system out there that truly enhances the important work you do. In this blog we cover why it might be time for you to switch to Nourish. 

Social care is in a state of change. Departed from the old standards but still developing its true form. This can breed uncertainty as much as excitement for digital social care software users. That is why Nourish are always engaging with decision makers, researchers and care sector leaders to make sure our user’s voices are heard. We have consistently led the way for digital innovations in care at both the technical and legislative level. We were the first digital social care records system to join the NHS England Assured Solutions List, as we wanted to make it as easy as possible for care providers to go digital. We are also the first supplier to attain level 3 conformance against Professional Records Standards Body’s (PRSB) standards for personalised care and support planning.  

We lead the discussion about future developments of digital social care through our role with Care Software Providers Association (CASPA). While taking steps to innovate the relationships between existing software suppliers in social care with our Partnership Programme. We accept it is not possible to know for sure what form the future will take, but it is well within our powers to prepare for it.   

One of the major benefits of increased digital system application in social care comes from how we use our data. Every interaction generates data, each appointment, activity and report. Many care providers are sitting on a wealth of information with no way to spend it on the people they support. Nourish’s robust reporting suite empowers users to take control of their data. We give you the tools to identify trends, respond accordingly and review the success of these changes. With more information at their fingertips coordinators and carers can respond effectively to the needs of the people drawing upon your service, in a safe, well led manner. 

We include several prebuilt dashboards within our system, to help our users get what they need. These dashboards can become a cornerstone or a starting off point for your team’s application of data. We want to demystify digital and help everyone in your organisation use a digital system to improve human care.  

Care is human and so are we. That might seem like a strange thing for a software supplier to proclaim. If there’s one thing we’ve learned from years of developing technology, it’s that people drive everything. That’s why people remain central to the Nourish experience. With us, there is always a human on hand to help. From your onboarding stages, through to our comprehensive Customer Success Managers and support teams. We maintain a high standard for user experience and support because we appreciate the people that drive social care. For all the impressive and effective technical advancements we make, there are some things that will always require a personal touch.  

The people who utilise your service require a personal touch too. We know that no two care providers are the same. Geography, demography, psychography, the number of varying factors is off the charts! That’s why Nourish is built to be customisable. You can match your system to your service and ensure it delivers exactly what you need. This customisability empowers your team to provide truly person-centred care, with more information and less effort than ever before! There’s no need to force your community to fit into a box off the shelf. Our team will work with you during your onboarding to make sure Nourish is set up exactly how you want it to be. We can even help introduce you to new features and functionality that align with your service! 

Introductions can be tricky things in fairness. Especially when it comes to those we love. With the increase in digital social care solutions there has been an increase in accessibility. Naturally, interested family members and friends are curious to learn more about the care their loved one receives. Family portals offer a great opportunity to share this insight. However, it can also be a challenge. With Nourish you stay in control. Welcome people into the world of care you provide, while still maintaining control over what they can and can’t see. There is no ‘one size fits all’ solution in care, but thanks to our customisability you can easily find the size that fits your community. 

Of course, you only want the people with invitations to have access to your system. Security is paramount to us here at Nourish. With 83 million rostered appointments in last 12 months in home care and 10 million residential data records updated on care plans every day in Nourish we know how crucial security is and we are dedicated to protecting the confidentiality, integrity and availability of your system. 

Nourish backs up data continuously to a cloud-based system. We do not use onsite data stores and all our cloud-provided solutions are backed up automatically and built into our disaster recovery plan and testing. This ensures the highest standard of security for the data of our users and the people they support. 

We worked with the PRSB to develop standards for social care. We are also fully ISO 27001:2022 certified in line with Local Authority commissioning best practice and Cyber Essentials Plus certified. 

Digital social care systems have come a long way in the past few years. So have the people using them. Digital literacy is at an all-time high, and care providers are experienced enough to ask software suppliers detailed questions they wouldn’t have thought of previously. These are important questions to finding the right system for your service, and ones we’d be delighted to answer if you contact us.  

With so many options available to care providers today, is it time for you to branch out?