Outcomes focused care is an approach in health and social care that concentrates on tailoring specific goals and outcomes to best suit an individual’s needs. It’s one of the most crucial ways to help improve both the quality and the continuity of care delivered.
But what is outcomes-focused care and how can the Adult Social Care Outcomes Framework help to achieve better outcomes for adults who need care and support?.
With the UK population changing and almost 11 million people being aged 65 and over, the needs for older people keep changing. The demand for social care keeps increasing and social care providers are struggling to meet the demand.
At The Access Group we are aware of the challenges facing the social care market and the importance of improving the quality of care delivered.
By the end of this article, the importance of outcomes focused care and what it is will be explained as well as, what the benefits are from using this approach, and how to overcome challenges when implementing outcomes focused care to get the best outcomes possible, prolong independence, and improve the overall health and wellbeing of your community.
Increasing independence in health and social care is not just a goal it is a way to improve an individual’s quality of life. With over 3.2 million people being aged 80 or over in the UK and many of them living with more than one chronic condition, being able to facilitate independence so they can live independently for longer has never been more so important. It helps to both reduce the burden on the NHS and families to delay future care needs.
Our ageing population shows that more people are living longer lives with potential additional needs which come from old age. Both the government and The Care Act 2014 are aiming to ensure people can live independently in their homes for longer to help delay future care needs and prevent individuals feeling they have lost their independence.
But you may be wondering what exactly does independence in health and social care mean, why is it important, and how best can care providers and local authorities facilitate it?
At The Access Group we work with providers of care, the NHS and local authorities. Though this we’re well acquainted with the challenges facing the social care market and how important it is for individuals to be more proactive and independent in managing their health to reduce their dependency on clinical support, care homes, and carers. Our Assure offering allows individuals to live a home longer safely whilst reassuring loved ones support is there when they need it.
This article will review what it means to promote independence in health and social care as well as how to maintain independence so individuals can live at home longer to delay future care needs and reduce the dependency on care homes, by delivering more proactive care. After reading you will have a greater understanding of what independence means and what you can do to promote and support it.
Community housing technology enabled care services are ever-growing in demand just like technology enabled care services in general.
With the analogue to digital telecare switchover happening imminently, there has never been a more crucial time for housing associations to invest in easy-to-use and effective technology-enabled care to increase independence and provide better housing support.
But what are community housing technology enabled care services and why are they important?
At Access Technology Enabled Care (Access TEC) we are aware of the challenges when implementing digital telecare in the housing sector and we want to make the transition as smooth as possible to ensure that residents get the support they need to achieve their independent living goals.
This article will review what community technology enabled care services are, why they are important, as well as the challenges that can occur in providing these services to your residents, so you can have the best methods in place to overcome these barriers and ensure that each resident receives the housing support needed.
Burnout in social care is causing significant staff retention and recruitment issues. A recent report by HFT and Care England found that a third of care providers have considered exiting the social care market due to financial pressures, further compounding the issue.
In the CQC’s State of Care Report 21/22 they stated that staff turnover is at an all-time high across both healthcare and social care leading to many care homes, agencies, and providers having to turn down contracts due to not being able to keep up with capacity.
Care worker stress then continues to build for adult social care workers left working in the market as the demand increases but the resources continue to plummet. At the start of 2022 alone, 2.2 million hours of homecare could not be delivered because of insufficient work capacities.
But what is causing care worker stress and how can local authorities help to work with healthcare and social care providers to prevent staff burnout and improve the continuity of care as individuals transition through the system?
At The Access Group we are aware of the challenges facing the adult social care market and the impacts it has on care workers, care homes, care providers, local authorities, and individuals and their families themselves.
We want to help overcome these issues so workloads can be more manageable and resource allocation can improve so individuals can receive the right care and support when they need it to avoid long waiting times, pressure continuing to build on the social care market, and most importantly prevent more social care workers leaving the profession due to burnout.
In this article we will review what burnout in social care is, what the main causes are, why it is important for everyone involved to notice the signs of burnout and how best to prevent it, as well as explaining how technology can help prevent burnout, which in turn can help improve the quality of care delivered.
Self-care and wellbeing and being able to have the tools to manage it better is getting more and more important in workplaces, and health and social care are no different.
With the events of recent years, the impact of the pandemic, strikes, and now the cost-of-living crisis, promoting wellbeing in health and social care has never been so important not just for individuals but for support workers, carers, local authorities, and care providers too.
It is vital to be able to promote wellbeing in health and social care to avoid and improve outcomes. Having support workers and carers with bad mental health and wellbeing can increase the likelihood of errors which in turn can impact the quality of care delivered.
But what is the definition of wellbeing in health and social care, why is it important, and what can cause both an end-user’s wellbeing as well as a support worker’s wellbeing to decline?
At the Access Group, we put the individual at the heart of everything we do. We know the challenges facing the health and social care market and how important it is to ensure support workers and carers have a good work-life balance to ensure end-users get the care support they at the highest quality possible.
This article will review what wellbeing is in health and social care, what can cause it to decline, as well as ways to promote it and how technology can help implement better strategies so challenges can be overcome without leading to longer waiting times and discharge delays, burnout in social care, and ultimately people leaving the profession altogether.
Rare diseases have been part of Chris Williams’ life for a long time. Growing up, his parents were seriously ill with long-term conditions. His father died from a rare kidney disease, and he was the primary carer for his mother, who developed trigeminal neuralgia.
Chris founded the award-winning Tiggo Care after looking for carers for his mother and discovering that many care organisations were not set up to cater for people with a rare disease and intermittent needs. Tiggo Care provides a wide range of home care services in London including personal care and more complex support, including for people with rare diseases.
Here, Chris talks about rare diseases, supporting his parents and providing personal care for people with uncommon conditions to help you understand more about rare diseases and how best to support people living with them.
Healthcare CRM refers to customer relationship management in healthcare. Maintaining good relationships with patients and clients across the health and care spectrum is important to help effect the change needed to ensure recovery or wellbeing in general, and to preserve business operations to support healthcare operations.
This makes it a little tricky for software solutions: handling both the patient side and the business side of care operations are two very different requirements. It may even be that you need two interoperable solutions to handle each side; a health CRM and an EHR solution.
Software solutions are the best way to handle the management process without burdening staff with undue amounts of administrative work, but it’s our belief that many organisations aren’t able to differentiate between healthcare CRM and electronic health records (EHR) and to decide which they need. This is why we have an official guide about Why Electronic Patient Record (EPR) systems aren’t just for hospitals, to help private or voluntary care organisations understand the market.
In this article we will explore that market and guide you towards the best solution for you – whether that’s a healthcare CRM or an EPR. We’ll explore what CRMs do, covering the definition of CRM in healthcare, before moving on to patient relationships, the benefits of CRM, and the specific impact CRM can have on mental health care. We will then conclude with the solutions themselves; what do they do, how do they differ, can they integrate with your existing software, and most importantly which will allow you to make better decisions for staff and patients, so that you can deliver better service.
What is CRM in healthcare?
The best domiciliary care software in the UK depends on your service’s individual needs. There are many established domiciliary care software systems. The one which is best for you is the one that helps you to deliver the right care, with the right skills, at the right place and time.
In this article we will review eight of the leading domiciliary care management systems in the UK:
- Birdie
- everyLIFE PASS
- CarePlanner
- Carebeans
- unique:IQ
- Nursebuddy
- CareLineLive
- Access
Each domiciliary care system will be evaluated using the same five criteria. This will allow you to decide which software for domiciliary care is the best choice for you.
Telehealth vs face-to-face care has been a big discussion since the usage of telehealth services grew dramatically during the COVID-19 pandemic. Challenges across the health and social care market including the increases in demand, waiting times, and dependency on health and social care professionals are just some examples of the difficulties health and social care providers face.
Both telehealth and telemedicine services allow an alternative approach to help health and social care providers manage waiting times better to improve outcomes, reduce burnout, and deliver better person-centred proactive care.
But which option is better? Does telehealth work better with some groups than others? Or is a hybrid approach the best way to deliver more outcomes-focused care that concentrates on every individual?
At Access Technology Enabled Care, we know that both telehealth and telemedicine services make accessing health and social care easier by being more flexible with scheduling visits whether it is in person or virtually. We want to make it easier to implement telehealth across your community so you can improve your outcomes and concentrate on what matters to the individual.
By the end of this article, you should know all there is to know about the best ways to use telehealth services and when in-person care is better depending on every individual needs.
The difference between policy and procedure is subtle but important. Put simply, policies are rules to follow, and procedures are step-by-step instructions on how to follow those rules. Policies and procedures ensure that everyone in your organisation is on the same page and understands what is expected of them.
At The Access Group we work with thousands of providers in health and social care for whom their policies and procedures form the backbone of their service. Policies and procedures each play a distinct but vital role in shaping organisational culture and codifying good practice.
Where policies and procedures are not properly defined and promoted, organisations may incur risks to staff and clients, regulatory breaches, loss of reputation and even enforcement action (including fines) from the regulator. Furthermore, policies and procedures need to be continually evolving to keep pace with the ever-changing regulatory landscape.
In this article I will explore the difference between policies and procedures in the context of health and social care. By understanding the difference, you will be able to improve the policy and procedure management of your organisation to ensure you provide safe and high-quality services.
