Chris Marjara, CMO, Access Group shares his thoughts with Care Sector Hub on how tech can be used to combat the problem of social care providers being overwhelmed by demand. Here’s what Chris had to say:
“With reports having broken that 59 percent of social care providers are having to hand contracts back to local authorities due to a lack of funding and ultimately a lack of operational capacity to cope with the demand, it’s clear that carers are in need of as much support as possible to help drive efficiency.
Social care is a demanding industry to work in, carers are stretched for time and resources, which has a knock-on effect on clients. If contracts are having to be handed back to local authorities, it means that there could be delays in people receiving vital care. The topic of ‘bed-blocking’ in hospitals has been discussed for a while now in terms of delays, in cases where local authorities have been unable to organise the next stage of their care. This is where technology can step in and have a positive impact. Deployment of efficiency-driving technology that can save these organisations time and money that can free up resources for hiring and can provide clients with a better level of care will be of great help to private and public care.
Domiciliary care providers, Guardian Angel Carers are a great example of a company that has benefitted from being an early adopter of technology solutions to assist with those pressures. Since using Access Group’s Care Software Suite, Guardian Angel Carers has managed to reduce their administration costs; delivering 100 percent auditing of medication records; and most importantly is extending the time carers have with clients by at least 5 minutes per visit, which shows that carers can improve their operational capacity. This is all thanks to the use of electronic records and a smart App with real-time data communicating between the office and field-based care team. Prior to that, records were manual and couldn’t be easily shared from carer to carer or branch to branch. This is of great help to the carers themselves, as having tech in place that can automate mundane tasks gives them the time to really connect with their clients and feel a sense of pride in the care they’re able to provide.”
