WCS Care shares benefits of digital technologies

Market leading care home provider WCS Care shared the benefits of its digital technologies during a panel session at The Care Show 2018 yesterday.

Director of Innovation and Development Ed Russell spoke on how technologies, including care planning systems, circadian rhythm lighting and acoustic monitoring had improved care delivery and resident health and well-being.

Ed said using Person Centred Software’s Mobile Care Monitoring system saved carers one hour per shift on care note recording, giving them more time to spend with residents.

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The innovation Director also hailed the benefits of the accompanying Relatives’ Gateway system which provides relatives access to a loved one’s care notes with the appropriate consent.

Ed said the system, which enables relatives to hold providers to account for uncompleted tasks, was used by 60% of family members, with 30% logging in each week to check on their loved one’s care.

The WCS Care innovation head also highlighted how data checks on fluid intakes had helped improve residents’ health and reduced falls.

Technology was also highlighted as a vital enabler of the continuity of care, providing more effective and quicker patient journeys between health and social care services.

App technology offered further benefits by matching carers and residents with shared interests, Ed noted.

WCS Care was the first care home provider in the UK to take up acoustic night-time monitoring systems that are installed, with residents’ consent, inside their bedrooms.

The system enables carers to monitor people’s wellbeing unobtrusively throughout the night.

Ed said the system had helped reduce the number of residents having sleepless nights in one care home from 15 to three, with an additional 34% drop in night-time falls.

Circadian rhythm lighting, which simulates natural daylight patterns, was also anecdotally shown to have dramatically reduced the number of residents affected by sundowning syndrome, within just two weeks of introduction. It forms part of a trial being run by WCS Care in conjunction with Coventry University to generate academic research.