Manual Auditing vs. Care Compliance Software to Improve Care Quality

So, what will really help you improve care quality? Well, there are advantages and disadvantages associated with both manual auditing and care compliance software.

At The Access Group we provide a range of software for care providers, including care compliance software, while working with plenty of providers that are use ‘manual’ auditing. Using that knowledge and information from customers, we’ve looked further into the pros and cons and compared the two, so that after reading this article you should be confident of which is best for your care service.

What is Manual Auditing?

Manual auditing in care means doing audits without software that has been specifically designed for the task. This can consist of using spreadsheets, word documents and/or paper audit templates. These fairly unsophisticated tools that are not specifically designed for the process of auditing in care can be used to create action plans to improve care quality.

With manual auditing, there’s nothing to ensure you do every step in the audit and that you do every follow-up action required as a result of that audit. In a single care home, fully relies on an individual, which can be a big strain on that person. If it’s multiple branches, you have to assume/force manage everybody to put in all of the information that’s required, and manage the follow-up processes. 

There’s also the issue of knowing what to audit, how to approach audits in each specific area (for example care plans, policies, training etc.) and what good practice looks like in each of those areas.

Advantages

• Cheap or free to create and are often easy to use and implement.
• Can build a Google Doc, Excel Spreadsheet, etc. and get everyone to fill in their information – most people have a basic understanding of this.
• Completion can be shown with a tick box, making it easy to interpret and understand.

Disadvantages

• Requires a lot of time, organisation and collaboration amongst staff and different services due to being in a paper-based physical form or over very basic systems.
• The lack of in-depth information and mandatory questions makes it almost impossible to track genuine progress.
• Can’t mine through to the detail of what the outcomes were and if you do, it will take a lot of time and patience to look back through records.
• Often have to physically travel from place to place to see the audit outcomes and the evidence.
• You have to go off your own knowledge or what you can find online to create care audits and assess services. Finding and translating this information takes a lot of time.
• Evidence can’t be attached and would need to be uploaded separately, which can make things disorganised.
• All of the information acquired needs to be put into a readable format.
• Information gaps in terms of what to audit for, what good practice looks like and how to audit. This can be solved by getting a consultant in, but this is disruptive and costly.

What is Care Compliance Software?

Care compliance software can help care services monitor governance, regulatory compliance, care audits and clinical compliance across the business. This software is the only complete governance tool in care, helping care teams improve the quality of their care by giving them a view of compliance across multiple services.

Described as a systematic approach to auditing to verify you’re performing appropriately against all of the key standards and it’s a structured approach to demonstrating newfound areas of improvement. For example, as part of doing the audit, you may find that something you’re safeguarding doesn’t meet the regulations. Once you do that it forces you to put an action plan in place so things don’t get dropped so that you take the steps to improve your safeguarding.

Care compliance software is extremely efficient and reliable. When the software also has a mobile app it can save 50-60% of the time manual audits take. It shows in-depth evidence throughout every stage, including reporting and dealing with complaints e.g. the procedure that must be followed to ensure that best practices and policies and procedures are being met.

Advantages of care compliance software

• Gives you structure and drives the process, which is timely and can be drilled through.
• Creates massive immediate visibility – described as an integrated governance tool.
• A systematic approach to auditing and driving improvements – evidence of lessons learned to support regulatory compliance.
• Will typically come complete with a complete audit library including templates, meaning you do not need to spend considerable time creating audits or pay consultants to do so.
• Can be tailored to meet the needs of the organisation.
• Highlights mandatory questions, reducing the risk of missing out on vital information.
• Evidence can be uploaded directly next to a question e.g. proof of visitation, a medical record, etc. – this isn’t a mandatory task but it is expected and very useful.
• It connects all of the information you need and sends it to your inbox.
• Easier to show all of the information required to the CQC during inspections.
• Can be managed via a mobile app, giving you an array of useful tools at your fingertips which will make audits on the move easier and more efficient.
• Has in-built reporting and analytics, which have been put together in a structured manner – this will automatically analyse performance and highlights areas that need improvement.
• You can dive deep into details that need to be improved and pinpoint required actions.
• Will often also include a mock CQC inspection tool that can be used to estimate your CQC rating and areas to improve.
• External reports can be uploaded e.g. environmental health, asbestos reports, etc. alongside corrective actions, that can be tracked and embedded into the system.

Disadvantages of care compliance software

• Can be expensive, which is an issue for services with a tight budget.
• Requires time to set up the software and train staff.
• Software updates or maintenance can lead to disruption and delays.

Many unique challenges can make it difficult to implement a robust quality and compliance framework. Learn more with our article Care Home Compliance: Are You Over-Complicating it?

Is care compliance software right for you?

To summarise, manual auditing is a traditional method that is easy to use and interpret, but as it isn’t digital, it’s time-consuming and has limitations. So, if you’re looking to improve the efficiency, reliability and quality of your care service, then switching to care compliance software could be your best option. A handful of advantages that making the switch will consist of include:

• The ability to digitally assess the quality of processes against relevant documents.
• Generating action plans to help you improve certain areas.
• Digitally storing information, tracking evidence and highlighting mandatory questions.
• Using a mock inspection tool so you can prepare for CQC assessments and boost your rating.
• Having a systemic approach to auditing at the heart of your care service.

When you switch to Access Care Compliance Software, you and your team can head into work each day knowing that all of your care and operational audits are in one place. Building your audits is easy and they can be tailored to meet the needs of your care service. If you’re new to running a care business, it comes with a library of audits with a step-by-step guide on what you need to do to save you time.

Access Evo, our AI in Care tool, leverages the power of AI to help you carry out mock inspections in accordance with the CQC’s new inspection framework. The integrated AI allows you to flag any areas of concern and can create a roadmap for improving your CQC rating.   

You can contact us or book a demo to find out everything you need to know about our product and how it can improve your service.