The Project Management Institute says that 50% of all projects fail. A successful digital transformation project that gives you the tools and stepping stones to get your care services up and running with digital care planning will not fail. So, what does a successful digital transformation project look like?

Deciding to make the switch to digital is a project that involves various stages. Where digital care planning sits in your digital strategy will be entirely dependent on how technological your care services are already. Some services may already be using an eMAR or an app for pain management while others are yet to install internet into their location.

Choosing a suitable digital care planning platform for your health and social care service in itself encompasses many areas. Is it suitable for your care type, is it flexible and adaptable to your needs, is it easy to use and visually appealing, does it have the highest security credentials? But what about the implementation itself? Does the digital care management platform supplier offer dedicated Project Managers to assist with your digital transformation journey? If you have over a certain number of services and beds, a project management team from the platform is essential in assisting you and ensuring a smooth roll out the platform to your services.

According to the Project Management Institute (PMI), 50% of all projects fail. A successful digital transformation project that gives you the tools and stepping stones to get your care services up and running with digital care planning will not fail. So, what does a successful digital transformation project look like? How can you make it a manageable task? What questions should you ask the project management team?

According to the PMI, 29% of projects fail due to poorly defined opportunities and risks and an inadequate vision or goal. A good digital transformation project will have clear expectations and set targets, goals, milestones and expectations as you implement your digital strategy into your care services. Ensuring you have a clear outline of all the steps you will be taking in the project will give oversight into what is going to happen and when as the project progresses.

To ensure that the project progresses at a rate that doesn’t become overwhelming, a successful project will be gated in the sense that you can only progress once certain milestones have been met. This will make the task more manageable.

“We were concerned about migrating to a new system because we didn’t know how our colleagues would cope with change. Nourish was excellent, they put a bespoke training package in place for us and took the time to walk us through each step of the journey from setup to implementation.” Golden Care

A successful digital transformation project will not just make rolling out the platform manageable but will build a centre of excellence within your care service. Providing you with the knowledge to become self-sufficient in the platform will give you the opportunity to become confident and comfortable in the platform and digital care planning as a whole. Such knowledge will also provide you and your team with the autonomy to help align the platform with your policies and procedures, so it suits the needs of the care services in your remit.

When starting your digital transformation project, it is vital to encourage involvement from your passionate and most tech savvy colleagues to help support the rollout. Encouraging change in practice and culture is not always smooth sailing so having members of the team champion this change will benefit the rollout in the long run. To ensure a successful transition over to digital it is essential to appoint champions who will be advocates for your chosen platform within your organisation.

While it is often assumed that there will be a hesitancy in the use of digital by some care staff who are less confident with technology, research shows that respondents shared consistent descriptions of a high level of acceptance. A study into Nourish and Care Worker Engagement by Graham Brittain MBA from Plymouth University, found the acceptance of the care planning technology was facilitated by both the perceived usefulness and perceived ease of use of the system. Interviewees frequently cited ease of use in their responses and this was a common ‘particularly liked’ factor that emerged from the survey.

Choosing the order in which you roll out the platform to your services is crucial. It is important to think about leadership, staff engagement, current agency usage and enthusiasm when selecting your services for the first phase of rollouts. This is because they will lead by example for the services that follow. By rolling out the platform in this way, you are able to define what best practice means in your group and then spread that out across all your services.

A successful digital transformation project will have clear milestones and a platform provider team that supports you and your teams to become experts in the platform on the start of your journey to digital transformation.

The 2024 digital deadline is fast approaching. How can you ensure your care service is on track to meet the digital deadline?

By 2024, the Department of Health & Social Care aims for all (but at least 80%) of care providers to be using a digital care management platform. This deadline is the first marker of progress for the long term digital transformation of the whole sector, as set out in their ‘Plan for digital health and social care’ and the vision for a digitally-enabled health and social care system.

The deadline exists to ensure that health and social care is sustainable in the long term and digital transformation for care providers is the logical first step. The deadline also serves to ensure that the advancements in digital health and social care made during the COVID-19 pandemic continues.

Using digital care management is becoming essential for care providers. With a digital platform, care teams can track incidents and events, and by analysing the data recorded, potentially prevent such incidents happening again in the future. Having everything all in one place,  without paper weighing you down and taking up your time, will have a huge impact on your care service and how you deliver and coordinate care.

“The long-term sustainability of health and social care is dependent on having the right digital foundations in place, and so digital transformation must be the linchpin upon which all of these reforms are based.” – Sajid Javid, Former Secretary of State for Health and Social Care

Deciding to go digital is the easy part. How do you then decide which platform provider to entrust with digital care planning? There’s a host of things to consider and we’ve created a handy checklist to help make sense of it all and what the most important things to look for when choosing a new digital platform provider.

Digital care planning is the way forward for health and social care and the 2024 digital deadline is fast approaching. By March 2024, the Department for Health & Social Care require 80% of care providers to be using digital care planning, with plans for this to eventually become 100%. Saving time is one of the key benefits of using digital care planning but how can digital data be used to save time and work smarter within your care service?

Using a digital care management platform that allows care note recording on the go is an instant time saver, especially compared to paper notes. Not only is time saved on note recording, but notes are more detailed and precise allowing senior staff and managers to spot any changes that require their attention and intervention.

With notes recorded on the go, information is up-to-date and available within the handheld devices. Care staff will have instant access to the essential information they need about the people you support. As and when care needs change, your care teams will always be in the loop to ensure they can provide the best care suitable for the people you support. The handover feature of a digital care planning platform will allow your care teams to see essential information from the shifts before, ensuring they are up-to-date on any events and are aware of anything that needs to be monitored or checked.

Agency carers, if used in your care service, are there to assist your staff when there are shortages. However, unless you’re lucky enough to get the same carers over and over, ensuring agency staff have all the necessary information
to provide safe, effective and person-centred care to the people you support can be time consuming. Having care plans and essential information available on a portable device means agency staff are able to immediately familiarise themselves with the people they will be supporting without having to rely on your care staff.

78% of care providers surveyed in a study by Care England reported that there has been a significantly higher and more frequent need for nurse and carer agency staff in May/June 2022 compared to April 2021. The survey also found that 50% of agency staff during this time were used to fill long-term vacancies of four weeks or more. With agency usage increasing, a digital platform that accommodates this is essential.

“The impact on the team was an immediate effect, especially in regards to time saving and daily report completion.” St Bernard’s Residential

Using a digital care management platform as a care group allows you to have an overview of each and every service within your group from a centralised location without physically having to visit. This means no more travelling to each location, freeing up your all-important time. A digital care management platform should feature dashboards and reports for the management teams to track and monitor trends and changes in the people supported. With the power of data intelligence readily available, you have the capability for early intervention on health and wellbeing changes and the ability to see if any services are in need of extra support.

“It’s so easy to access care plans, risk assessments, contacts, daily routines, fluid charts, falls, medication and more all in one place and at the touch of a button.” St James Care – Linden House

Utilising the third-party integrations available within your chosen platform will save your team’s time as all information can be found in one central location and encourages working smarter in proactive and preventative care. Integrations can be used to reduce administrative burden, reduce double entry and improve the flow of information in the circle of care. Integrations give you access to information you wouldn’t otherwise have access to. This allows you to analyse digital data and make better more informed decisions, the best possible outcomes, improve care delivery and care review for the future.

Integrations with third-party eMAR systems ensure you have immediate access to the information you need at the point of care, such as medications administered and associated notes. Prescribed medications can instantly be added to the Emergency Admission Pack if one of the people you support has to go into hospital. For integrations that focus on falls prevention, the data recorded can be analysed in order to identify early warning signs. These early warning signs will allow you to put preventative measures in place, reducing future incidents, the time spent on incident aftercare and allowing for a safer environment for the people you support.

Escalations of care need a timely response from external healthcare providers and preventative care and chronic disease management integrations encourage this. The ability to share information from your digital care planning platforms with a clinical team quickly is crucial to the person you support and the management of their care, saving time trying to get through on the telephone. Preventative care works to reduce hospital admissions with early intervention. Having systems in place enables early supported discharge which frees up beds within the NHS and supports a community-based approach to care in a more comfortable and appropriate setting for the people you support.

Nurse call software and the analysis of data surrounding call bell usage is designed to reduce the usage of call bells in care services. In doing this, the care service environment becomes less stressful for the people you support and your staff. The data analysis can show where call bell usage is higher and response times slower, allowing for adjustments to staffing levels to accommodate, easing the minds of family members and providing evidence for CQC.

“Nourish allows us insight into our care system that never existed before. This has really helped how we collaborate as a team and share information between departments and other healthcare professionals.” – The Grange Centre

Using a digital care planning platform will allow you to analyse the data that is recorded. Centralising data storage through the use of integrations allows a concoction of rich data to identify trends and patterns that will allow you to improve the lives of people you support. Using paper particularly would make joining the dots on incidents and the potential causes trickier and slower. With a digital platform, the information can begin to be analysed instantly.

By analysing the data recorded, you and your teams will be able to spot and track trends on simple and easy to use dashboards. The data can be useful to allow you to intervene before an incident occurs by spotting trends before they escalate. Dashboards and reporting  functionalities allow you to track the events leading up to an incident and in the future, if the same chain of events begin to happen, intervene before the risk reaches boiling point. Not only does this save time on form filling, contacting families, external healthcare providers and more but it is also significant for the individual supported. The data analysis also provides the opportunity of learnings that can be shared across your services, helping to contribute to positive change within your organisation.

Using digital care planning allows you to become proactive in your care approach. You can see warning signs, manage and raise awareness of any triggers, inform staff of the best way to respond by having all that information in carers hands on their devices. In the short term, time is saved on note recording, double entries and information sharing and in the long term, time is saved by utilising preventative measures and being proactive in your care approach. Not only is time saved by working smarter but implementing the aforementioned measures will improve the wellbeing of the people you support and your staff.

When selecting a new digital care planning platform, information security should be a key consideration for making it is suitable for your care service. From GDPR requirements for data processing and controlling, data backups and who can access data, to accreditations such as ISO and Cyber Essentials Plus, there are a host of things to consider when using a new platform. We’ve put together this guide to help you make sense of it all. We also show how Nourish goes above and beyond to ensure data in the system is protected. 

The General Data Protection Regulations “GDPR” is embedded as part of everything we do at Nourish. We continually review and improve our processes to ensure best practice and compliance with the regulations. This includes; vetting suppliers for their own data practices, data sharing agreements with integration partners, Data Protection Impact Assessments and improving data security for our customers in every way we can. Nourish’s compliance with GDPR is monitored and audited as part of the below certifications. 

In 2019, Nourish became one of the first digital care planning providers to implement and obtain a UKAS accredited ISO 27001 certification. In November 2023, Nourish transitioned to the latest 2022 version of the standard. This gives confidence that we have the latest and best processes in place to protect information across our entire organisation.

ISO 27001:2022 provides organisations with a framework and controls to protect their information in a systematic and cost-effective way, through the adoption of an Information Security Management System (ISMS). This accreditation underpins our security at Nourish. We also ensure continual security improvements with annual external audits, monthly training sessions, regular meetings to discuss ISMS issues and managerial buy-in. The requirements for accreditation are stringent and based on three security principles: 

Nourish achieves these three principles by the implementation of the 93 controls across; organisational, people, physical and technical themes that make up the latest standard. This ensures that Nourish has thoroughly considered risks and has treatment plans in place to mitigate them.

Implementing a certified information management system such as ISO 27001:2022 has enabled Nourish to work in the safest and most efficient way.

As a company providing software, Cyber Security is often a topic for conversation. How do we protect ourselves further, can we make improvements, what is new that we need to protect against? 

Nourish has achieved and maintains the Cyber Essentials Plus certification. This adds to our Data Security certifications which work alongside our ISO 27001:2022 certified Information Security Management System. This ensures the safety and security of all data at Nourish and helps to prevent being an easy target for hacking or phishing schemes. To find out more about what you can do to protect your care service from phishing emails read our blog.

Cyber Essentials is a government-backed scheme aimed towards preventing attacks from the outside. Cyber Essentials Plus is the highest level of certification offered under the Cyber Essentials scheme. It includes a thorough exploration of security systems, experts carrying out vulnerability tests on an annual basis. 

The Cyber Essentials Plus certification is a key part of being able to offer complete confidence in our ability to handle data securely. 

Holding data requires storage, Nourish backs up data continuously to a cloud-based system. Nourish does not use onsite data stores. All cloud-provided solutions are backed up automatically and built into our disaster recovery plan and testing.  

The accreditations above are just some of the ways Nourish ensures sensitive information and personal records are kept secure and protected. It also allows us to stay on top of data protection and Information Security. 

Nourish continuously improves its data and cyber security to limit the chance of breaches or attack.  Our main aim is to keep all data safe, accurate and available at all times. 

To find out more about information security management and our digital care management platform – click here to book a demo

Phishing has been in the news and on social media a lot in recent months. Have you received an email from HMRC, PayPal, your bank, delivery companies like UPS, or maybe you’ve received an email claiming ‘you’ve won an iPhone!’? These are common examples of phishing emails aiming to catch you out.  

A phishing email is designed and targeted by cybercriminals or ‘hackers’ to create the illusion of a genuine email. They normally claim to be a company that does exist, but the email will not be from the genuine company. For example, they could be trying to look like a delivery company that was ‘unable to deliver your parcel’ or HMRC with ‘fraud that needs to be actioned’. These emails can look very genuine but will have dangerous consequences. Most often these emails will contain a link that when clicked by the user will usually ask for some sort of personal details or can place viruses or software onto your device.  

Nourish has noticed an increase in attempted phishing emails in the sector over the last 6 months, these emails are targeted and can look very genuine. Some phishing emails have come to us pretending to be from companies such as care providers, NHS, HMRC, Microsoft and many more, some of which have been very good copies. These emails look exactly like a message from an organisation or person you trust. Official sources should never be asking you for any sensitive information via email.  

Attacks can cause serious problems if not handled correctly or caught early. The hackers can install malware or ransomware, sabotage systems, steal intellectual property or money, steal or lock access to data or personal information.  

The costs to recover this can be very large if they ever do return the property or data they have stolen or accessed. They simply may publish the information which could lead to claims or reputation damage.  

The cost of productivity to recover or recreate what is stolen or lost may also cost a company significantly.  

It can cause loss of customers if trust is broken, and they may no longer trust the organisation to keep their information or customer data safe.  

Financial costs of fines or penalties for breach of regulatory requirements would also be a considered factor if there is more that could have been done to prevent the attack. 

Knowing for sure is impossible however, some key things to look out for to identify a phishing email are:  

If you believe an email may be suspicious or phishing, ensure firstly that you do not click on any links or attachments. If you think it might not be genuine but is something you are unsure about, find a phone number for the company on another source and call to validate.  

If the email is sent from a person you think you might know, contact them on another method of communication to ensure that they sent the email.  

Most email providers allow a reporting option to report any suspicious emails, this allows email systems to improve the detection of phishing emails. Some providers will also spam emails into a separate spam inbox.  

Finally, when you suspect or think it is a phishing email delete the email from your inbox to avoid accidentally clicking or opening in the future.  

First, don’t panic! Make a note of everything you can remember happening, especially taking a note of any information you think they may have gathered from you during the phishing attempt.  

Change any passwords as soon as you realise you may have been compromised, also changing the password if it is used elsewhere.  

Where possible check any access to the account in question to see if any new attempts have been made to access it.  

If this attack was on a work or school computer, contact the appropriate person or IT Department as soon as possible in order to start working toward securing all accounts where possible.  

If you shared any information including card or bank details contact your local police, bank and card company as soon as possible as they will be able to stop the cards or money being taken if it is still yet to happen. 

As discussed, the consequences can be significant. However, there are ways you can protect your care service: 

Being vigilant to phishing emails and knowing what to do if you do receive one and even what to do if you become a victim of one is extremely important.

To find out about Nourish’s data security management take a look at our blog. 

Care owners understandably want to have peace of mind that everything is under control and running smoothly within their care service. The Compliance & Audits feature within Nourish can be used in a number of different ways to provide great insight into your care service depending on your individual requirements.

If you’re a hands on care owner, you may want to be able to look into detail at exactly how your care service is performing, and the ways in which it is improving people’s lives, or simply see the bottom line to understand how your care service is doing, and what needs to be done to continue to grow and improve. 

Compliance and Audits can do just that, and it can be tailored to suit the needs of your care service. Here’s just a few ways care owners can utilise this feature.

Every care service is run differently, and the flexibility of the Nourish system allows you to run things the way you want. Audits can look into both the running of the care service itself as well as the residents health and wellbeing, to ensure that everything is running smoothly.

You can choose from a bank of audits to understand specific areas, or create bespoke audits based on things that are more specific to your care service. Owners may wish to identify areas such as spending, predict CQC ratings or assess staffing needs.

Care owners can then add bespoke reports that are tailored to their needs which can assess overall quality of care being provided. They may want to report on failed admissions, GP visits or number of completed records by staff, to name just a few. 

These audits allow care owners to spot check certain areas where they may wish to improve or change, and it allows them to gain a better understanding of what works and what doesn’t. 

Care owners are bound to be busy, and the thought of having to sit down and sift through paper reports can be daunting. With Nourish, care owners can utilise Compliance and Audits by automating the reports they need on a regular basis, and this could be as frequent as is necessary for your care service. 

Automated reports take the hassle out of manual reporting, and ensure reporting is consistent for much more accurate data in the long run. This can be incredibly beneficial when it comes to inspections. 

Care owners can then look at data at the touch of a button, in as much or little detail as they like. This is really useful for those times when you may want to simply understand the bottom line, as you can see a top level overview of different areas of your care service. 

This also means that when it comes to a CQC inspection, you can streamline the process and simply produce any reports that they may wish to see. They’ll have all the information ready to look at without the need for trawling through mountains of paperwork. 

As a care owner, having a detailed understanding of every area of your care service is key to figuring out what works well and what may need improvement, and it can be hard to see the bigger picture sometimes without a good auditing system. 

Compliance and Audits within Nourish can help to gain a better understanding of your staff and those you support through the use of the bespoke audits and automated reports. 

With clear and consistent reporting, you will then be able to analyse data at a much deeper level, and at a much faster rate than paper reporting. This feature can also be used in conjunction with Nourish Analytics, to allow you to identify trends and correlation at scale throughout your care service. This is particularly useful for big care groups who may wish to monitor and track the level of service being provided across all sites, to ensure consistency in care. 

The Nourish system is designed to work with all different types of care providers, to be as flexible as possible so that care owners can tailor it to their needs. 

Compliance and Audits is just one element of Nourish that can provide care owners with a clear view and understanding of every area of their care service, so that they can make more informed decisions in order to maintain an outstanding level of care to those they support. 

For more information on how the Nourish system can help your care service, book a demo today!

Personalised care plans are a rising tide, one that elevates the care experience for everyone in your community. Starting with your care teams.

Digital care plans are the best way to ensure your care team provides person-led, community centred support to those they care for. 

Each individual is different. Therefore a one-size-fits-all approach doesn’t always work. Especially when you care for people with very different needs. 

When it comes to working with personalised plans on paper, things can be quite tricky. With care teams looking after many different people at the same time, a lot of carers’ time is spent looking at care plans, writing up notes and analysing information by hand. Understandably, this becomes very time-consuming. Ultimately taking away from the time they could spend with those they support. 

As personalised plans become far easier to create, manage and analyse online, they can also be shared easily with members of a care team. In this case everyone can see the information they need at the click of a button. 

This results in people receiving a much more personal and bespoke level of care. Ensuring care teams always work with a person-led approach. There are many benefits to personalised care plans that empower teams to provide a greater level of care. 

A team of carers who enjoy their job is so crucial for quality care When care teams are happy, this shines through in their delivery of care. Here are just a few ways personalised plans empower care teams working digitally.

The most common benefit for care teams using personalised plans is increased efficiency. 

Having each care plan easily accessible at the touch of a button saves carers a huge amount of time. No more looking through stacks of paper and spending hours at the end of a shift writing up notes. Improving time management, and increasing care note accuracy. It also means there’s no confusion or questioning when shifts change. When you handover to the next carer they have all the information they need readily available. Informed carers ensure your community gets everything they need in a timely fashion.

The Nourish system has a handover feature which allows carers to quickly review previous notes. Informing them of what a previous team member did previously. So that change overs are seamless and carers provide consistent care at all times. 

Empower your carers with personal plans for each individual they support accessible at the touch of a button. Securing their confidence in their role.

Personalised plans provide in-depth information about a person and their needs. Including everything from their allergies and medication history to their likes and dislikes. Having this information to hand allows carers to get to know the people they support. And in having this deeper understanding of their needs, carers can feel confident they are providing the safest form of care for individuals. 

The Nourish system has the ability to log notes and send direct messages to other members of staff. Strong communication is crucial for quality care. This makes it easy for care teams to communicate with each other and support each other in their daily tasks. 

Those who work in care do so because they want to help and make a difference in people’s lives. But time ia always a factor. When there are mountains of paperwork to do at the end of a shift it can detract from your care quality. Carers feel like they could be doing more if it wasn’t for all the admin that comes with the job. 

Personalised plans that are created digitally allow carers to spend less time on admin and paperwork, and more time doing what they do best, caring.

More than time, personalised care plans support informed choices and coproduction.

Spending quality time with those in care is good for both the person receiving and giving the support. 

The majority of carers’ job satisfaction comes from being able to make genuine human connections and really make a difference to those they care for. Admin is often seen as a necessary evil of the job, something to be endured at the end of the day. A digital way of working can cut down this admin time immensely, and involve your community in the process!

Autonomy is the key to a smooth-running team. Personalised plans can help provide greater clarity on individual needs, without any uncertainty. 

With a comprehensive care plan, handover notes and direct messaging available within the Nourish system, carers no longer need to search high and low for specific information about a person. A personal care plan will have all the important details of what that person needs. So that the carer on duty can get on with their work efficiently and effectively. 

The Nourish system has a comprehensive care plan and personalised timeline that gives carers an extensive overview of a person’s biography, care needs, medication, emergency information and more. 

Having easy digital access to personalised care plans empowers care teams in the workplace with a better understanding of what is required of them in their role. Working digitally eliminates a lot of the uncertainty and groups all information together in one central location. Which provides greater structure and direction for care teams. 

With a clearer view of the needs of each person under their care, their work becomes easier and they feel more motivated to go above and beyond. Additionally, combining this with a more streamlined system that everyone can access drastically cuts down admin time and empowers teams to provide more person-led, community-centred care. There’s no doubt that a digital way of working is going to boost morale in the workplace. 

With the structure and efficiency of a digital personalised plan, teams can put all their effort into providing outstanding care for everyone. 

A smarter way to care. We’ve worked with over 1,000 care services and organisations to deliver truly person-led, care plans that transform the way care teams manage and support those they support.

For more information on how the Nourish system can help your care service begin to empower your care teams, get in touch and book a demo today.

When it comes to understanding care planning sometimes its best to start at the beginning. That’s why we’ve designed this Care Planning 101 series to help. This week we’ll be starting from the beginning and helping you to understand what care plans are, what care planning involves and how it helps you to provide people with the right care for their own individual requirements.

A plan of care is a presentation of information that easily describes the services and support being given to a person. Care plans should be put together and agreed with the person they focus on through the process of care planning and review. A care plan is made up from individual records of care, which then contribute to the overall plan of care for a person.

Care plans are an essential aspect to providing gold standard quality care. Not only do they help define the support & care workers’ roles in providing consistent care, but they enable the care team to customise the level and types of support for each person based on their individual needs.

Another important function or purpose of care plans is to ensure the consistency of care a person receives. If a robust care plan is in place, staff from different shifts, rotas or visits can use the information to give the same quality of care and support. This allows people to receive a high standard of safe, effective and responsive care in a service which is well-led.

Every person is unique. A one-size-fits-all approach does not effectively work.  Care teams responsible for the actual delivery of care need to be constantly vigilant and be immediately responsive should there be any indication of a person’s changing needs. This could be increased or decreased and make sure that the plan of care is amended and updated as necessary, not waiting for the formal regular routine review to take place.

Using a care plan software can enhance your care plans, giving you deeper oversight into your care home as well as the care planning app giving your care teams the ability to record care on the go and have all the essential information about the people you support in one place.

If you’d like to find out more about how Nourish can help you effectively manage your care plans and care pathways, book a personalised demo with our team today.

Many of us use some kind of technology to monitor our health and well-being. We’ve got fitness trackers, smart watches, sleep trackers, fluid logs, gym apps and so much more. We input our data and track our progress so we can see where and how we can make changes to improve our health. And just as it can improve our health, data and analytics can improve your care management too!

With this in mind, the same concept is now being applied in the care sector. Care teams are now able to use a digital system to record notes and assist with daily care. Moving away from a paper-based system comes with a whole host of benefits, one of which is the huge amount of data that can be analysed, which has great potential to improve the way care and support is provided. 

In order to look at ways in which care can be improved, measurable data is needed. Not only will this help to spot any initial areas for improvement, but the continuous monitoring of data allows you to accurately measure the effects of any changes made. A data-driven approach to care can really help care teams to better understand those they support, and feel confident they are providing the safest daily care to each individual. 

Fears surrounding big data 

Although the idea of using data analysis is supposed to instill confidence in carers, it is understandable that many people still have their reservations about this, mainly surrounding the accuracy of said data, and where data protection comes into the equation. But when it comes to the digital vs paper debate, it is clear that paper recording poses a far greater risk for inaccuracy and inconsistencies in patient information. 

We are already starting to see technology being implemented within the health and social care sectors. The NHS is slowly starting to work on digitalisation of patient records, and electronic care planning is now becoming the norm across many care homes in the UK. Now that the care sector is rapidly adopting a digital way of working, data analytics is the next step in evolving and enhancing the way we care. But how exactly can data and analytics improve your care management? 

Spotting trends in those you support 

One of the main benefits of analysing data is to be able to spot trends. This could be anything from eating habits to sleeping patterns, and these trends may vary between care providers. 

What this allows carers to do is look at the bigger picture. Did someone refuse their dinner or their medication one night? If so, why did they? Who was on shift that evening? When looking at the bigger picture you can start to see what’s missing or what’s changed and ask the necessary questions to get to the bottom of it. 

With paper recording, it can be a little trickier to keep up to date with the bigger picture and see things clearly, meaning things can get missed. While it may sound extreme, spotting someone’s decline in appetite could be the difference between life or death, as this could be the first sign of an underlying condition that could otherwise go unnoticed. 

Creating continuity of care  

Having data recorded electronically makes it far easier to run reports, and gain insight into individual’s needs. This type of data recording and reporting is proactive and allows you to share insight and information with your care team and other healthcare providers in a safe and efficient way. 

With data reports readily available to view, this is a far more accurate way of sending and receiving up to date information, ensuring that everyone is getting the right level of care they require. 

Creates a transparent care environment

When there is clear communication among care teams, you are better equipped to support those in your care. Going digital has its benefits in ensuring everyone is on the same page, but the analysis of data takes this one step further. 

By providing everyone with the facts and figures in a clear and concise way, these insights will empower carers to be the best they can be. With reports and data readily available, this means everyone can have clarity around the type of care an individual needs and what is being done to support them, and family members can be kept in the loop so they have peace of mind their loved ones are in good hands. 

Transparency is key when it comes to evidencing care for CQC purposes. Data analysis better equips you to provide the best quality care as well as have all the necessary information readily available for inspectors when you have an audit. 

The future of data and analytics in a post Covid-19 world

This year, the care sector has faced many challenges. The Covid-19 pandemic swept across the globe and sadly became one of the leading causes of deaths within care. Understanding something like this virus can become a lot easier when we’re able to analyse the facts and the figures. Care homes who were successful in preventing an outbreak within their organisation were monitoring things extremely closely. Symptoms, incubation periods, and patient-staff interactions were all recorded and able to be analysed to track and prevent outbreaks from sweeping through their care service. 

Data and analytics is quickly going to become a must within the care sector in a post-pandemic world. The Goverment have already invested £600 billion into an Infection Control Fund for care homes, and using that funding for digital transformation could help so many care services become better prepared in the future. Not only does technology make it far easier to breakdown and understand data, but using a digital device to share information with staff, families and other healthcare services is far safer as it reduces contact between one another. Staff will be able to work more efficiently when they can all access a centralised system remotely, and it’ll be easier to log and track who has been where and when which will ultimately help prevent the spread of the virus.

How electronic care planning can help

Moving towards a digital way of working has a number of advantages, and now is the time for care services who are still using paper records to make the switch. Collating and using big data allows care teams to become more aware and vigilant of the risks to those they support, understand those risks, and implement solutions. At Nourish, we want to encourage data analysis to help care organisations provide better care, which is why our electronic care planning system can also be upgraded with an analytics tool that can help spot trends and patterns to better equip you in supporting those in your care. 

We now also have a Covid-19 Tracker built into our platform, so you can track the virus more closely and understand how it is affecting your care service. To find out more about how Nourish can help you provide better care, book a demo with us today. 

Nourish’s Head of Customer Experience, Daniel Hollingworth, talks about the importance of a good night’s sleep, and what can be done to improve your quality of sleep as well as the people you care for. 

What keeps you up at night? Perhaps it’s a weak bladder, or the traffic from the street outside. For me it’s more than one cup of coffee a day and a young child who doesn’t seem to need sleep at all.

While the odd bad night’s sleep is normal for many of us, regular disruption to sleep can affect our immune systems, making us more susceptible to illness. Other side effects of poor-quality sleep include sluggishness and slower brain function. This is why monitoring sleep patterns and trends is essential within a care environment, it can help us pinpoint areas for improvement and understand what it is that could be affecting sleep. But how to get better sleep?

Quality sleep is a combination of Rapid Eye Movement (REM sleep) and Non-REM (deep sleep), that allows for rest, rejuvenation and even solidifying memories. REM sleep is also essential for emotional and mental health. Sleep cycles take around 90 minutes, and you ideally want to have at least four of five cycles per night. The average person needs a recommended 7-9 hours of sleep, with the ideal amount sitting around the 8-hour mark.

In a typical care environment, night checks are the norm, and waking state is recorded, and anyone else who appears to be sleeping is recorded as asleep. Although this gives an ok understanding of how much the person has slept or remained awake, it doesn’t actually look at the quality of their sleep.

With a wealth of technology available such as wearables and monitors, we are now able to track sleep quality with great accuracy. When you think of sleep tracking, people tend to think of fitness bands for the wrist, but there are a lot of affordable trackers available, from bedside table noise sensors, under mattress sensors and even wearable rings, these devices can all assess and manage sleep with convenience and comfort.

Everything gets better with a good night’s sleep!

It has been shown that the regularity of your sleep is just as important as the amount of sleep you get at night. It is always better for your health to get regular sleep than to binge on sleep at the weekends, for example. We all feel more alert after a good night’s sleep, but when sleep deprived, the brain has a 40% reduction in capacity to learn.

Research being conducted by Jonathon Cedernaes from Uppsala University in Sweden suggests that sleepless nights can create an increase in an Alzheimer’s related protein called ‘tau’, suggesting a link between poor sleep patterns and more complicated health issues.

Good quality sleep is what boosts our immune system to help fight off disease, so when our sleep is compromised, so is our health. One of the most important factors in ensuring flu vaccines work is to ensure you’re looking after your immune system. Lack of sleep means your body may not be able to create enough antibodies to fight off the virus, therefore resulting in a higher probability of getting flu.

Fortunately, there are many ways we can improve our sleep quality. Many care environments now encourage caffeine free hot drinks, and for good reason. In one study it was found that consuming caffeine six hours prior to bedtime reduces sleep time by one hour. So whether you’re looking to boost your own sleep patterns or wanting to improve sleep in elderly residents you support,  a simple change such as switching to decaf can make a difference.

This doesn’t sound that significant until you compare it to further research which found that heart attacks increase by 24% when the clocks go forward in spring at daylight saving time. However, when they go back in autumn, heart attack cases decrease by 21%. This really shows what a difference an hour of sleep can make.

So that swap to decaffeinated drinks really could be a life saver.

Drinking enough fluid is very important and many of the people we support have fluid targets in place for this very reason. Try to drink consistently throughout the day rather than trying to hit your fluid intake in the latter half of the day. The more fluid you drink at the end of the day the more likely you are to make that bathroom trip, breaking your sleep cycle. This also correlates with falls during the night.

Finally, one of the best ways to encourage quality sleep is to increase physical activity. Not only does exercise reduce stress, it has been shown to reset sleep/wake cycles by increasing then decreasing body temperature which triggers tiredness a few hours later.

Better sleep habits and getting good quality sleep is essential in ensuring the body and mind rest, repair and prepare for the next day. Do you monitor your sleep or carry out sleep assessments on those you support to help get better quality sleep in care? Let us know by leaving a comment below