Why is workflow necessary in social care?
Take a look at this CQC inspection report from a provider rated ‘Requires Improvement’:
“The registered manager and provider had not always notified the CQC about events that, by law, they were required to do so. Audits were not always as effective as they should have been which meant opportunities to make improvements were missed. Where incidents occurred these had not always been investigated or acted upon.
“An open and honest staff team culture had been established by the registered manager. The registered manager motivated the staff team with regular meetings, formal supervision, mentoring and using experienced staff to mentor and shadow newer staff. Audits and quality assurance systems were not effective in identifying and making the necessary improvements. Staff were supported in their role.”
It is clear this provider is trying to do the right thing. They are listening to complaints, they are fostering the right culture and developing staff, but their lack of proper workflows means that follow up tasks are not being completed and chances to improve are being missed.
How can you implement and improve workflow in social care?
This provider’s report takes another twist now. It turns out they have actually invested in software for their business. However, it doesn’t look like they have chosen the best software:
“The provider had an electronic care call and recording system in place to record when incidents occurred. We saw that where things had gone wrong, for example medication errors and missed calls, these records had been completed. However, not all of these had been investigated. This limited the provider's ability to make the necessary improvements.”
What this shows is that recording things electronically is not enough. Your systems need robust, reliable, comprehensive workflows to manage tasks properly. Where possible, they should also be customisable or even allow you to create your own workflows. This will enable you to adapt the system to the specifics of your business and to any changes in the wider market, including regulatory changes or new demands from your clients and commissioners.
What kind of workflows can Access care management software give me?
Far too many to list in full here, and yes, you can modify many of these and even create your own automated workflows to meet any specifics of your business, or to automate aspects of care that we haven’t thought of (yet!)
Here are just a few of the examples of workflow used in Access software
- Care plan reviews
- Incident reporting and investigations
- Complaints handling
- Change of care requests
- Invoicing
- Staff training
These workflows are typically “triggered” and have “dependencies”. This means that the next part of the process is started automatically (triggered) but only when specified essential activities have been completed.
For example, when a carer submits an incident form, a task to investigate is automatically created for the relevant member of staff. The next step in the process – the investigation review – will also be triggered automatically, but only when the person has completed all the necessary parts of the investigation itself.
What’s more, if the person forgets to complete the investigation, the system will remind them to complete it. Manager dashboards give the right people an overview of the team’s activities, which they can filter by completed, overdue, type of task and so on.