The health and social care sectors have been in the front line of the Covid-19 response, and although we’re starting to see positive signs that things are improving, we still have a long way to go. There is still an urgent need for staff in the health and social care sectors - predominantly in residential and nursing homes - where the recruitment of healthcare staff can be extremely time-consuming and challenging, more so than ever in the wake of Covid-19. 

In order to address the new challenges presented by the fallout from this dreadful pandemic, it’s become more important than ever to streamline processes like recruitment, training and onboarding of staff. Many health and social care providers - from hospitals to residential and nursing homes, as well as home care services - are now turning to automated platforms to help manage this side of the business.

Why do care homes in the UK need software?

The UK health and social care sector today is heavily regulated by the Health and Social Care Act 2008 (Regulated Activities) Regulations 2014 and the Care Quality Commission Registration Regulations (2009).  In England, the Care Quality Commission (CQC) is responsible for ensuring that this legislation is upheld, and carries out inspections of care homes at least once a year (although these inspections have been temporarily suspended as a result of Covid-19). The CQC has also devised the Fundamental Standards of care, below which no care provider must fall.

What’s more, inspection reports regularly highlight a need for more robust HR processes, proving that it’s an area of particular interest for the CQC. 

When you find the right software, there’s no doubt that it will be an invaluable resource for you and your staff. Used correctly, care home software can provide you with support in the specific areas it’s needed most, enabling you and your staff to stay on top of paperwork and taking the headache out of maintaining regulatory compliance. Most importantly, this will free up valuable time to improve your service, grow your business and focus on what you do best - the delivery of high quality care.‍

How to choose the right care home software

There are many types of care home software on the market, each offering its own set of distinct advantages. In order to find the right package for you, it’s essential to spend some time looking at the different products available, their functionality and how they can help you to improve efficiency. Once you’ve compared what’s available and you’re in possession of all the facts, you can make an informed choice about whether a particular platform would be a good fit for your organisation.

If you’re an established service provider, then a good place to start might be your last CQC inspection report; if it identified any areas for improvement - for example maintaining up-to-date staff training records - then you could look for a software solution which would help with that. 

Of course, making the right choice can be a daunting task, particularly if your skillset doesn’t include a great deal of IT expertise, so it’s probably worth getting some advice before you take the leap.‍

What is care home software and how do care home software solutions work?

Care home software packages can be bespoke - that is, designed to meet the specific needs of your service - or off the peg. One size almost never fits all, so it’s advisable to contract with a solutions provider that will be happy to make some adjustments, to ensure that the platform provides you with the support that you need. Whilst some social care providers may simply require automated support with payroll and staff rotas, others may prefer a fully integrated care management solution. This will likely depend on the size and complexity of your service.

Features that care home / care management software might include:

• Medication management
• Care planning/ person-centred care
• Managing supplies and inventories
• Managing staff rotas / payroll
• Maintaining staff training records
• Hiring and onboarding of new staff
• Invoicing
  

As you can see, there are many different options available and the right software package for care homes could drastically improve efficiency, as well as helping care homes to maintain and deliver a high standard of care which meets the CQC’s Fundamental Standards.

Where is care management software used?

The vast majority of care homes and nursing homes today rely on some form of software and if they don’t, it’s probably time they did. With increased regulation in the social care sector and regular CQC inspections, most care home managers are all-too aware of the need to maintain regulatory compliance. As a result, it’s now very much the norm to automate at least some of the many processes involved in managing social care services. Without software, it simply wouldn’t be possible to  achieve accuracy, efficiency and compliance.

When should care homes employ software systems?

In order to get the most out of your care home software, it’s important that you integrate it fully into your day-to-day operations, 365 days of the year. It might take a bit of getting used to - particularly if you’ve been accustomed to maintaining paper records - but you’ll discover pretty quickly that most software packages will save you valuable man-hours, as well as making compliance and staffing issues significantly less cumbersome. Once you make the transition to an automated system, you’ll probably never look back! And if you’re a residential or nursing home which already has an automated system in place, it’s worth carrying out a review of your software to see whether it’s meeting your needs. 

Who needs to be involved in care home software management?

That’s up to you. Once installed, the right software solution should be fairly user-friendly so it can be used easily by management, administrative and care staff alike. Again, it’s important that you choose a solution which suits your service.

Free care home software - What is the (real) cost?

There are free packages on the market, but if cost is an issue and you’re considering a free software solution, then make sure you do your homework. Yes, free tools can help stay on top of day-to-day administrative tasks, but when it comes to matters of regulatory compliance, it’s probably not worth scrimping. Some social care software platforms will offer a free, no-obligation trial period, which can be extremely useful in helping you to determine whether they can meet your needs moving forward.

Common problems with care home software

Some of the more common issues which service providers report experiencing with care home software include:

• Poor functionality
• Weak interface with existing systems
• “Difficult to use/maintain”
• “Doesn’t ensure compliance”
  

It’s important to consider these potential pitfalls when choosing the right platform for your service. Be sure to check that any software you purchase will help - rather than hinder - your path to compliance, whilst also maintaining a good fit with any existing systems you may already have in place.

Which is the best care home software?

The best care home software package is quite simply the one that meets the needs of your business, at a price you can afford and with an interface that you find simple and intuitive to use.

What we offer

At Credentially, we’ve come up with what we consider to be the optimal software platform out there for care homes and nursing homes. Our automated software has been designed by professionals from within the fields of health and social care, with extensive experience of the particular issues, operational hurdles and frustrations faced by recruiters, HR professionals and managers in the health social care sectors.

Our experience in the health and social care sectors has made us acutely aware of the ongoing challenges, including:

• Urgent need to recruit care workers and healthcare staff
• High volume of candidates
• Low quality of applicants
• High drop-out rate
  

Credentially’s automated platform addresses these issues, enabling you to:

• Automate the hiring pipeline
• Optimise selection and volume
• Drastically reduce onboarding costs
• Achieve hassle-free compliance
  

Our software combines features across hiring, onboarding and compliance to give you:

• Faster hiring
• Better onboarding
• Tighter compliance 
• Full automation - including interfaces with healthcare and recruitment databases
• Improved patient safety through automated failsafes
• Happier staff, thanks to a greatly improved candidate journey
  

If you’re looking for a care software solution to help with recruitment issues and the day-to-day running of your service, then check out our online demo, to find out more about how Credentially’s platform could help you. You can also read our case studies to see how we’ve helped services just like yours to streamline operations.

Let us help you find the best staff, grow your business, maintain compliance and keep costs down.