How digital technology has benefited our team and the care we deliver

Satish Sahni, Director, Oaklands Care Home, discusses how using digital technology has improved how his team works and helped them achieve organisational goals.

I purchased Oaklands Care Home back in May 2021, back then the care home only had two very old computers and a home style printer.

In the midst of the covid pandemic I saw how digital-first our society was becoming and decided we needed to introduce a greater digital focus.

Having worked previously in a care home which had a digital-first approach, I had already seen the benefits which digital technology can bring for an organisation.

The first step was the purchase of new laptops for the team and an upgrade to the internet across the care home. We also added CCTV and brought in digital entertainment systems for the residents, such as tablets and smart TVs. We also brought in a new telephone system.

We then introduced an electronic medication administration service and a digital care planning system.

Now our next step which we’re excited to introduce later this year is a digital acoustic monitoring system in all bedrooms to allow our staff to easily monitor for any issues such as falls, which will increase the safety of our residents.

As well as supporting the best quality care for the people we support, the use of technology also brings many benefits for our staff.

It took time for staff to get confident which each of the new technologies we introduced, but with training days and mentoring from the management team - and a lot of trial and error along the way – they mastered it and the benefits showed immediately.

Care staff carry tablets which give them prompts to conduct tasks. This heavily reduces the amount of tasks missed and pieces of paper going missing. With the very busy schedule of the care staff and so much to remember, these pop-up prompts help hem to ensure that all tasks are completed. This takes pressure off the care staff knowing that before they finish their shift they can check their digital care systems to make sure nothing has been missed.

Better technology means better communication. The management team are able to update care plans which are then updated immediately to the care staff’s tablets the care staff. This gives care staff the most up-to-date information and increases the safety of our residents. For example by being aware of immediate changes to thickened drinks, textured diets, mobility aids, and so on.

Technology has also resulted in a more confident workforce. The management team put in countless hours training staff using digital systems, some staff picked it up faster than others. There were some staff who were not used to technology at all (including smart mobile phones) and the thought of going digital scared them to the point of even considering changing their job. We worked closely with these staff and they overcome their fear with our support. We taught these staff new skills and gave them more confidence in their job role and job satisfaction knowing that with their new skills they have improved the overall care and positive outcomes of our residents. Not a single member of staff now will go back to paper and pen. We even created a role of a digital champion – this is a member of our management team who is there for help and support at any time when staff are struggling with the use of technology.

We found that we were able to be more flexible with office hours as some members of the management team were able to work remotely using our digital platforms. This supported staff in not losing their work hours when they struggle to come on site. This created more job flexibility, which we found led to better retention of staff.

Going digital has also given us ease of access to data ready for us to analyse. We found we were able to pick up trends faster in auditing, leading to improvements in the residents’ safety and the care delivered. This saved time for the management team and we were able to reduce any errors and reduce risks.

Overall we have seen so many benefits for our team, our ways of working, and our residents. That’s why it’s so important that care organisations look to introduce more digital technology and work to build staff’s confidence and knowledge with digital ways of working.

Find out more about how digital technology empowers care.

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