Digital technology has rooted itself in social care over the past few years. There are a lot of options for care providers looking for digital social care software, ranging in size, shape and functionality. 80% 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? Does your system adhere to the 14 DSCR standards?

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. Nourish 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 fully compliant with all 14 DSCR standards released by Digitising Social Care last year. Additionally, we are the first supplier to attain level 3 conformance against the 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? 

Digital care record systems have gone from a ‘nice to have’ to a ‘need to have’ in social care. Most providers have moved to a digital system or are in the process of implementing one. With widespread digital uptake the question has changed from; ‘are you using a digital system?’ to ‘are you using the right digital system for your service?’

Just under two years ago the government launched its ‘Digitising Social Care’ campaign, delivering the three year £150 million investment for digitally transforming adult social care, as was set out in the 2021 white paper, People at the Heart of Care.

This campaign built on a decade of digitisation in Social Care. Driven in part by the pandemic. That saw care providers take on a variety of different digital systems to help them deliver outstanding care.

The driving force of the ‘Digitising Social Care’ campaign has focussed on ensuring 80% of providers, and at least 80% of people in receipt of care, have a Digital Social Care Record (DSCR) that is compliant with their standards in place by March 2024. While it fell slightly shy of this target. There has still been a significant uptake in digital social care records. From the 40% of providers using them at the start of the campaign. The uptake reflects the benefits of digital systems in care, and the necessity of compliance with the established DSCR standards. These positive results have led to the government extending funding for the campaign until March 2026.

Nourish Care was the first system to join the NHS England Assured Solutions List back in 2021. Since then, the list has grown significantly, so how do you choose the right one?

Incompatibility between systems and services is a rising source of operational frustration for providers. ‘All-in-one’ systems can be limited by the applicability and lack the resources to support more complex or person-centred care, while specialised systems can be disconnected, leaving your team to fill in the gaps between them manually.

Routine system evaluations are a great way to uncover and address these frustrations. This process involves identifying the issues with the platform you are using and evaluating the impact of this issue on your organisation. It takes time and effort to establish the best criteria sets for your service. We have included a guide which you can use to help you get started.

Digitisation has impacted everyone involved in care, so it is best practice to include your entire organisation in the evaluation process. Any frustrations caused by your digital system will be felt by carers and coordinators alike.

Your organisation has multiple roles and responsibilities, and it is important to involve them in your evaluation process through interviews and surveys. An example of some common roles are:

If possible, you should also involve the people who utilise your service in this process, such as when evaluating the effectiveness of integrations with other systems like PainChek or GP Connect as well as circle of care functionality like a family portal.

The more experiences you can account for when evaluating your system, the more complete your picture of its impact will be.

Digitisation in Social Care happened at such a rapid pace since COVID that, understandably, some people have been left behind. When evaluating the impact of your system it is important to consider not just the functionality, but also the user experience.

Do your team feel confident not only with the system, but with the support they have around it? Are there resources and training available to help your team improve their understanding of the system? Is there a customer support team they can reach out to for guidance and support?

Many issues with digital systems come from their misapplication. When evaluating your current digital platform, it is vital to consider your team’s comfort with the system. It might be a matter of reviewing and reworking the way you are implementing the system, as opposed to changing your system all together.

To provide outstanding care, you must constantly be reviewing and improving upon your processes in a responsive and caring way. It is natural to expect the same of your system, as you both adapt to the always evolving reality of care provision.

Digital skills develop over time. With that time it is common to look for more ways to apply your skills to support your care. Such as through data reporting and analysis. By routinely reviewing the capabilities of yourself and your system. You can make sure you are maximising the benefits of your digitisation journey.

The new DSCR standards must be fully met by everybody on the ASL. They represent the next step of Social Care’s digitisation journey. An evolving emphasis on data, security and interoperability that reflects the success and potential of digital software in care. 

The new compliance regulations were announced last year and Nourish has been busy ensuring that it meets each of the 14 standards. This level of screening will mean that only software suppliers who meet stringent standards will be able to remain on the NHS Assured Solutions List.

With so many options available to care providers for digital systems, it is the perfect time to review the needs of your service and community. There is a wealth of suppliers eager to explain their system and its capabilities to you. By knowing what you have and what you want from a digital platform. You will be well-equipped to get what you need.

At Nourish we are well versed in helping people to transition from underperforming digital care record systems to ours. We have resources, guides and team members who would be delighted to talk to you about the process further. If you would like to learn more contact us.

Growth requires reflection. The first step to getting what you want is knowing what you need. Our previous blog went through steps for evaluating your existing system. Once you have a clear understanding of your current processes and needs, you can start to develop your vision for how to satisfy them. As you may be aware, there are a lot of options available. Following the launch of the ‘Digitising Social Care’ campaign in April 2021 the number of social care software suppliers on the Assured Solutions List grew significantly. While the introduction of higher standards in 2024 saw some solutions removed from the list there remain several options for providers to choose from.

This is a source of great opportunity and reasonable consternation for providers. In a crowded market it can be hard to settle on the right choice for you, but with the right questions and advice you can find the right system. 

Care is a community, and it is in our communities we find the best answers. Speaking to other providers about their experiences with different technologies is a fantastic place to gain a better understanding of what is available on the market. People with first-hand experience of a system can highlight its strengths and weaknesses in the specific context of their service. While your service might not align entirely with theirs, direct experience with technology in a care setting is a valuable insight for your decision-making process. 

There are several ways to gain insights or ‘social proof’ from other care providers. The most straightforward route is asking for case studies from existing tech suppliers in care. All suppliers will have a selection ready to go, and most should be able to give you a case study that is similar to your size and structure. However, these will obviously come with a bias towards the company that wrote them.

Social media groups and online care communities are a great source of social proof. There are a number of groups on social media platforms, like Facebook and LinkedIn, which you can join. These range in size and location and are typically filled with like minded care providers looking to support each other. There are also local care associations and paid provider community networks you can join.

Once you have enough examples of the digital systems available to you, you can put together a shortlist of viable choices. Start with key necessities or ‘must haves’ and build from there such as: care type supported, customer experience reputation and interoperability capacity.  
 
This initial list might be very long, it can help to organise the information important to you in a spreadsheet to make it easier to compare your options.

After completing a self-evaluation, you should have a list of questions for potential digital care suppliers that help illustrate how they would address your service needs. These questions will form the backbone of your assessment when engaging with the short list of potential systems. 

All digital providers will be happy to give you a free demonstration of their system. These are generally whistlestop tours of the system, highlighting the strengths of the platform and how they relate to your service. Your self-evaluation will help you focus the discussion and direct the person showing you the system to the features most pertinent to you.  

In many instances, it is possible to record these demonstrations so you can share them with your service. As the new system will impact everyone in your service, it is beneficial to share your insight into the options available with your teams and gain their perspectives as well.

The digital social care record standards must be fully met by everybody on the ASL. They represent the next step of social care’s digitisation journey. An evolving emphasis on data, security and interoperability that reflects the success and potential of digital software in care. 

The new compliance regulations were announced last year and Nourish has been busy ensuring that we meet each of the 14 standards. This level of screening ensures that only software suppliers who maintain the highest standards for data security are available on the NHS Assured Solutions List.

Digital systems can be transformative, but selecting the right one can be time-consuming. It is important to understand the nature of the agreements offered as well. If you are about to enter a two-year contract, all of these evaluations and discussions with other providers will be worth it! 
 
It is also possible that through your evaluation you may conclude that there isn’t a better alternative currently available on the market. If that’s the case, then it’s a good prompt to engage more forcefully with your current provider to influence them to align with your requirements.

Find out more about the benefits of Nourish by contacting our team for a personalised demonstration of our platform.

Care is always evolving. Over the past five years we have seen a notable increase in the demand for home care in the UK. The population is ageing, and people want to be able to live freely at home for longer. That is why care technology needs to evolve quickly as well. In today’s fast-paced world of home care delivery, frontline teams face mounting pressure to deliver high-quality, personalised support. Often with limited resources and fragmented tools. Traditional systems fall short, leaving carers without the context they need, struggling with poor connectivity, and relying on insecure communication methods.  

This blog explores how a mobile-first, context-aware care platform can reshape the way support is delivered.  

We’ll dive into how this innovative approach empowers carers, improves outcomes, and brings confidence back to every visit. 

Information is key to quality care. Carers, especially those in home care, are asked to wear a millinery’s worth of hats throughout their day. On traditional platforms, carers often lack visibility into why tasks are required. This can easily lead to disjointed care, creating gaps and inconsistencies in the application of someone’s plan. Which leads to missed opportunities for better outcomes. 

We work with our users to continually review and develop the functionality of our products. We are building out care tasks, interactions and assessments that link directly to care plans. Giving carers real-time context to deliver more informed and personalised support. 

The new Better Care at Home app connects each interaction to a section of the care plan. Crucially, including a client timeline for context, so that every interaction is connected. The app provides instant access to critical information, including emergency packs, allergies, and assessments. Ensuring your team knows everything they need for quality home care delivery. 

Of course, all the functionality in the world doesn’t matter if the app doesn’t turn on when you need it. Or, to borrow a phrase from my old football coach, ‘the best ability is availability’. He had a few ways of saying it in fairness, however this is the only one I feel comfortable repeating.    

Unreliable mobile signals and clunky interfaces slow down home care delivery. Which leads to frustration for your teams when they don’t have access to the things they need to succeed. Much like a certain unnamed football coach for Castletroy Rovers’s under-12s.  

The Better Care at Home app supports care wherever it happens. Whether in someone’s home or on the go. With offline access and intuitive tools that work in real-world conditions.  

Offline mode ensures carers can record and access key information, even in low signal areas. Storing the recorded information on the app and uploading it as soon as a connection becomes available. Ensuring no important interactions go unrecorded. Features like appointment views, body maps, and medication tools make care delivery simpler and faster in the field. 

We develop all our features with our users. Creating a continuous feedback loop throughout the development process. By co-producing our products, we can ensure that they are both fit for the role, and accessible to the user. 

Communication is key. It lies at the centre of all successful systems. In home care delivery, disjointed communication between carers and managers leads to missed updates and disparate perspectives. Which in turn can lead to a reliance on unsecure tools like WhatsApp or Facebook Messenger.  

Better Care at Home enables care teams to stay connected and informed with secure in-app messaging. Keeping your communications exclusively between your team. With built-in support that is only ever a click away. As well as a Microsoft login to make accessing the platform easier for your users. Features that promote ease of access and collaboration for every interaction.  

In-app messaging supports team to team and group conversations securely. Building connections across your service, regardless of where your team are at the time. This can help bridge the distance that naturally occurs in home care delivery. Our integrated guides and user-friendly interface help your team to quickly become comfortable using our app. Allowing for their care to evolve in line with our functionality, as they unlock more time with the people they support. As well as more information about the life that person leads and the care and support they desire. Improving access, auditability, and security for your whole service. 

As the demand for home care continues to grow, so too must the tools we rely on to deliver it. The Better Care at Home app represents a meaningful step forward. Not just in technology, but in how we think about care itself. By working with Nourish users we understand some of the key challenges providers face. Including gaps in information, accessibility issues and fragmented communication. Our mobile-first, context-aware platform empowers carers to provide more informed, responsive, and compassionate support. 

With every task linked to a care plan, offline functionality that works in the real world, and secure communication built in, Better Care at Home is more than just an app update, it’s an upgrade. A partner in delivering confident, connected care. And by co-producing with the people who use it every day, we ensure it continues to evolve alongside the needs of the sector. 

Our Chief Marketing Officer Lee Gilbert recently joined David Thompson and Natasha Bone of Rehability Care for a two part episode of their podcast, Social Care Chronicles.

‘Digital Care Planning in Action: Transforming Lives with Nourish’ explores how we are working with our users to reshape the future of social care.

Part 1 of the episode covers a range of topics from reducing paperwork to empowering individuals with learning disabilities, autism, and mental health conditions. Our conversation uncovers the real-world impact of person-centred, data-driven care.

You’ll learn

Whether you’re a care provider, tech innovator, or policymaker. This episode is packed with insights on digital transformation in social care.

Don’t miss Part 2, where we dive deeper into implementation, integration, and what’s next for the future of digital care!

Part 2 premieres at 11:00 A.M. 10th September 2025.

In Part 2 we explore

Learn more about the innovations at Nourish. And how we’re building for the future of social care on our Articles page.

Birthdays are a natural cause for reflection. As Nourish Care celebrate our 10^th we find ourselves looking to both the future and the past to better understand where we are today. For 10 years, ever since we got our first customer, Nourish has been proudly supporting care providers across the UK and beyond.

Growing alongside our users, increasing the functionality of our platform and expanding the range of care types we work with. Throughout this journey we remain connected by a singular focus, a golden thread that runs through every iteration and evolution of Nourish. The idea that the people who receive care come first. This commitment to care and foundation in coproduction defines our past and decides our future. As we look forward to a litany of possibilities, from data and AI, to family connections and institutional integrations, it is our focus on people that matters most. As is tradition. 

Okay, technically, we are actually closer to 14 than we are to 10. The seed for Nourish was first planted in 2011. This seed of an idea would spend four years flowering into the first iteration of Nourish that was officially launched with our first customers in 2015. These four years laid the groundwork of both our system and our culture. Nourish is rooted, deeply, in the care experience. We can only succeed in putting people first when we first start with their perspectives, experiences and outcomes of care.  

In 2015 our CEO, Nuno Almeida, took part in a Tedx event in Bournemouth. The theme was ‘Creative Illumination’. It boasted a range of speakers and sectors, unified by their creative solutions for established challenges. Back then, the main focus for care technology was digitisation. While the conversation moved significantly forward since then, the roots of Nourish’s person-centred approach remain as relevant as ever. Digital care records are no longer an aspiration; they are a common feature.  The goal of connected care plans is still pursued throughout each iteration of Nourish products as we continue to build towards a more informed, and informative, care ecosystem. You can even see the early ideas of data and AI application way back in 2015 when Nuno mentions ‘creating the right algorithms running on the data to help drive improved outcomes for people using care’. 

Fundamentally, the talk ends with a focus on people. The people who utilise care services, their families, and the people who provide care. Nuno mentioned a few examples specifically as well as the ‘20 or so’ providers we were already working with. Because while ‘when’ we started can be debated, ‘how’ we started is clear. We started by working with care providers, and that is how we will always continue. 

The past 10 years saw a lot of changes at Nourish Care. With expansions, integrations, and configurations galore.  

The first three years were focussed on building out our functionality and scaling up to meet the needs of our rapidly increasing customer base. We went from 12 users at the start of 2015 to 428 in 2018! Thanks to user feedback we developed foundational features for the Nourish system during this time. Starting with interactive care plans in 2016, before focusing on data utilisation with Nourish Analytics launching in 2017 and Nourish Insights in 2018. Features and products we continue to develop and offer today! 

By 2018 Nourish was operating in social care for several formative years. Over this time we learned about both the potential of our software systems, and the reality of social care technology.  

So we co-founded CASPA with other care technology suppliers. The key goal of this group was the effective, safe and regulated proliferation of digital systems in social care. CASPA provided a resource for software suppliers to champion the benefits of our systems, like the exchange of information between care and health services, and other ways of digitally promoting continuity of care. This development reflected our ambition to positively impact social care on a larger scale through both our technology and our technological knowledge. 

This undertaking almost immediately bore beneficial fruit. In 2020 COVID struck the world down, and social care providers across the UK stood up in response. CASPA demonstrated the power of care data utilisation to the UK government and the NHS. This data supported the forecasting and planning of future waves of the COVID virus to inform appropriate preparation and responses. A revelatory application of social care data. One that in turn helped drive improved care outcomes in many areas.  

After the success of this initiative during COVID, CASPA pushed for further digitisation in social care. The establishment of the ‘Digitising Social Care’ programme was a direct result. Nourish was the first software supplier to qualify for the Digitising Social Care ‘Assured Solutions List’. The programme’s guide for approved systems available for purchase with local authority financial contribution. 

The funding and expertise offered by this programme helped accelerate digitisation in social care throughout 2021. The following few years saw a myriad of digital platforms announce themselves to the sector. Each boasting its own benefits and unique solutions for long-standing social care challenges. 

In response to this rapidly increasing selection of software we established the Nourish Partnership Programme (NPP) in 2022. We recognised that we can’t be the one source of every good idea in care technology. There are people working on brilliant technology all the time. Through the NPP we have, do and will continue to build connections with other care technology suppliers. Establishing a new aspect to our tradition of collaboration. Drawing on their specialisations and perspectives to support our software and offering guidance to Nourish users who are interested in expanding their technology ecosystem. Of course, we only integrate with those we align with, such as Altra, Found by Lottie, and e-Reception Book. This way we can ensure we are up to date with the best systems out there, as well as uncompromising on our commitment to keep people at the forefront of everything we do.  

One of the biggest steps we took on this front was quite recent. Nourish Care acquired CarePlanner in 2023, nearly doubling our size and opening the world of home care to our technology. This acquisition was built on more than technological ambition. It brought together two care technology teams that already shared a design philosophy. A denominator of putting the person being supported first smoothed the combination of these teams. Following this acquisition Nourish became the most widely used care management supplier in the UK! 

2024 was a year of growth across Nourish. We continue to add to our list of integrations and partners. We are building out all of our teams to reflect our ambition and responsibility. It took us a little time to fully acclimate to our increased size. Once these teams settled and people found the room to excel, we couldn’t help but look once more to the future. 

The future is bright here at Nourish. Informed by tradition and unleashed by collaboration we have big plans and bold ambitions. Care technology is far more widespread than when we started. As a result we are moving from questions of digitisation to data utilisation.  

When it comes to understanding data, and by extension AI, we are at the forefront in the care sector. We hired a team of well-educated and experienced developers, led by our Director of Data and AI, Sudha Regmi. We remain unwilling to rush to delivery with AI, as we continue to iterate and test AI models alongside Nourish users. This ensures we are not caught up in the hype of AI applications sweeping every industry in the world right now. But rather, we can walk assuredly, in step with care providers, to find the right applications of AI, and consequently, build the best apps for it.  

This approach has stood us well over the past 10 years, and even recently has helped us develop new, exciting functionality for data management. Such as our Insight dashboards, and several exciting products coming soon.

These new products represented the next era for Nourish. Which in turn initiated an update to our naming conventions. Over the past 10 years we transitioned from working with care homes, to a wider range of care and support providers. As we expand our product range and the people we support even further, we realised we needed to update across the board while enshrining our guiding philosophy. 

While we are expanding our range of products, our commitment remains the same. The people in receipt of care come first. Our new selection of products, the ‘Nourish Product Ecosystem’, reflect the changing world of care and support around us. They are targeted at specific challenges providers face. Offering effective digital solutions for a wide range of needs because we know no two people with support are the same. One size will very much not fit all. You need the right tools for the job, and the best people behind them to support you.  

Each circle of the Ecosystem reflects a different focus for our products and the impact it will have on your community. 

With each individual product developed and tested through co-production with our users to provide you with the innovations your community needs. 

At the coalface of our new innovations is our product team. Under the stewardship of our Chief Product Officer, Matthew Stewart, we built a robust and creative product team. We understand care technology is at an inflection point in its development. We care presented with the opportunity to truly revolutionise how care is delivered and the outcomes it provides. Our team works alongside care providers, in Nourish tradition, to build this technology. Creating a cycle of iteration and feedback with a range of stakeholders from throughout the care process. Ensuring we have the perspective and experience of everyone who will be impacted by the care provided. 

Who knows what the next 10 years holds?  

At Nourish we are preparing the same we always have. By working with our users. Talking to people who live care every day. Bringing together technical expertise with human understanding and building solutions collaboratively across a range of relevant experiences. Reflection without action is simply indulgence. We look back with honesty so we can step forward with certainty. The past 10 years have not always been straightforward, but thanks to the people around us, we always know where we’re going.  

Come join us for the next 10, it’s going to be one hell of a celebration. 

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? 

The benefits of digital rostering go beyond efficiency. Optimisation is about more than driving shorter routes, it’s about driving positive outcomes as well. Staff scheduling is a complicated, and crucial part of delivering outstanding home care. It requires an in-depth understanding of your area, your community and your team. One that goes beyond simply managing spreadsheets. Truly great digital rostering software gives you the tools to bring all of your experience, data and empathy to bear on the challenge of staff scheduling in home care. 

A good start is half the battle, though in home care it can often feel like an uphill battle at the beginning. Nourish Rostering’s overview puts you in the lifeguard’s seat; with a clear view of your service and the insight to notice trouble before it brews too long. Digital rostering centralises your vital information. You can schedule your clients’ needs and your carers availability as desired, ensuring that every appointment is covered, and every individual involved is well informed.  

You can also fill your system with pertinent information about your service and the people who make it special. Clients can detail their needs, as well as their desires and ambitions. While your carers can include their skills, their interests and their passions. Separately these are useful silos of information, but together in one system they become influential drivers of positive care outcomes. These details can then be combined with geographic factors and clinical skills as you plan appointments and build runs to best match the needs and abilities of your care community. 

That is the core power of digital rostering and home care software. The ability to bring together a wealth of information and put it at your fingertips. Unlock the expertise of your organisation by moving all the vital information from the heads and filing cabinets of your coordinators, onto a digital format. Ensuring no hour, need or opportunity gets overlooked when you are planning your care. This can feel like an uphill engagement indeed at the start! But once crested it brings speed, and specification, to your rostering process.  

Of course, nothing in home care provision is ever straightforward. Which is precisely why home care software needs to be. Any care coordinator knows the unpredictability of a home care rota. Clients’ needs change over time, availability varies for all parties, and no one can ever be certain what awaits them just around the corner.  

Any good home care rostering software needs to be reactive. Our drag-and-drop functionality is exactly that. It gives a succinct, yet detailed, overview of your schedule for the day, alongside the ability to quickly adjust appointments as necessary. Each client’s appointments are clearly shown, as well as the availability of your carers. This gives you the tools to quickly adjust when the inevitable changes need to happen. Digital rostering includes the ability to convey these changes as necessary with your team, so no one misses out on an update. 

Crucially, you can make these decisions efficiently, with the weight of experience and the information of your system behind you. Our ‘Recommend’ a carer feature includes all relevant information on your calls so that you can send the right person to the right appointment every time. These factors include travel time and distance, specified to include mode of transport, familiarity with the client, experience and specific skills required and personal preferences of both the client and potential carers. Each data point further colours the picture of your care, and you can adjust the weighting of these points to match the unique needs of your community. Therefore you are not only planning efficiently, but effectively too, so you can continue to drive positive outcomes with your care. 

Taking care of your team is a crucial part of optimising your staff scheduling. With digital rostering you can empower and inform your carers. Our all-in-one-pocket solution gives your carers a tool that has all the information they need to manage their day. An up-to-date schedule which shows not only where they need to be and when, but travel times in between. Allowing them to plan their routes effectively and adapt to changes with ease and efficiency.  

Our new ‘Time Off’ feature helps you establish and manage your teams holiday accrual. Your carers can review and request time off through their app, promoting optimisation through centralisation of your processes.  Decisions that once took half an hour can now be resolved instantaneously. This frees up your time to focus on people and outcomes, rather than balancing spreadsheets and calculators.  

People are what drives care, and outcomes are how we measure our impact. Understanding that impact comes from understanding the way our care shapes lives. Staff scheduling plays a huge role in this, and call monitoring is key to ensuring your information is up to date and accurate when reviewing your home care rostering. Information like actual appointment times highlight the variety of key care indicators. Such as: consistent patterns in appointment length, travel times, travel mileage and more. You can record, review and report to best shape your appointments to the needs of your community.  

This information can then be combined with other data points to optimise your digital rostering. Do you need to reduce the length of one appointment? Increase the length of another? Adjust runs to balance travel time? Or maybe change carers to account for public transport variances? When you digitise your processes, you position yourself to benefit from all the data you naturally accrue. With the right software, you can take full advantage of this opportunity to improve care quality, care efficiency, and care outcomes.  

Digital rostering offers a range of benefits for your service. It lets you optimise the information you are already gathering and refine it to improve your outcomes as well as your efficiency. Time saving is a fantastic benefit on its own, and one that many care providers who are digitising their staff scheduling have experienced. However, there are far more benefits to unlock beyond efficiency. Benefits that involve everyone in your community collaborating effectively to change the lives of everyone in your community. 

Thank you to Warrington Community Living for sharing the following article on their website. We love hearing how Nourish‘s digital platform  is helping and improving care services across the country!

Embracing digital technology in the social care sector has many obvious benefits; not least time saving, more accurate note taking, simple reporting capabilities and a significant reduction in paper storage.

However, we are now also seeing that once care providers have fully integrated Nourish Care into their service, they are constantly finding innovative ways to utilise the technology.

Soon after the digital recording of care notes and updating care plans has become second nature, care teams become excited by the flexibility of the system and endless opportunities it encompasses.

The more time we spend with our care providers, the more we are impressed with the how forward thinking they are. Here are just a couple of examples of how our clients have been thinking outside the box when it comes to flexing the capability muscles of Nourish.

One home we recently revisited has started to record an interaction each day of wishing every resident a ‘good morning’. They also record their responses and any conversations that followed. It’s such a simple addition to their list of daily tasks, but encourages care staff to interact with the residents that little bit more, and on an emotional level. It also gives great insight into how the resident is feeling that day and can be a helpful indicator of their mental health.

Many of our clients provide care to pet owners, some of whom live in the home with them. Whether it’s cats, dogs, guinea pigs or chickens, carers have started to create daily records, and even care plans, for the animals. This is a fun and engaging way to use the system and ensures our fluffy and feathery companions are also fed on time, given any care they require and taken for those all-important walks.

Pets are often an integral part of a residents’ or service users’ life and happiness, and it’s just common sense to keep them healthy and happy too. Having care plans for the service’s pets also provides a great talking point when engaging with residents and their families, and we love how our care partners are using the system to encourage communication.

The flexibility of the Nourish system means that anything you want to personalise or remind staff of can be built into the daily records. Maybe Frank is trying a gluten-free diet; maybe Margaret likes a cup of tea while she reads in the afternoon; or perhaps Victor is going to start chair exercises once a week. Whatever the preference, goal or need, the daily records can reflect this, helping to keep the care team up-to-date of any changes.

Another innovative way we’ve seen care providers using the system is to also report maintenance issues. This could include task reminders, so that maintenance checks are completed, and even to ‘flag up’ maintenance concerns. For example, if a carer notices that a light bulb has blown, the carer can take a photo and note its location from a drop-down list of rooms on the Nourish system. They can then set a warning for the maintenance team who will see to the maintenance issue and turn off the warning when it has been resolved. It’s great to hear how the system is being used, not just to support care teams providing care, but also to support the smooth running of the overall service.

A final example of where our care partners have taken a unique approach to using our system is with regards to checking fire doors. We currently offer NFC tag technology, which many of our care and nursing homes use for night checks. These small tags are placed in the residents’ rooms so that when a carer completes a night check, they can tap their Nourish device onto the tag and it will record accurate information for when the check was completed.

Some of our care providers also use this technology to ensure fire doors are secure. The tag has been placed on the fire door, and when the relevant staff member taps their device onto the tag, a form appears which asks the staff member to check the fire door and record the task as complete or if action is required.

Our system was created to empower carers and support care teams to provide the best quality of care possible. However, we are so pleased that the flexibility of the system is encouraging care teams to think creatively and find new ways of making the most of the technology to support their care provision.