North Lincolnshire - Case Study

Who are they?

North Lincolnshire Council works hard to enable individuals to remain independently safely for adults aged 18 and over. In particular, their Home First Community Services provide time-limited, short-term rehabilitation and reablement services. They are a large and popular service within North Lincolnshire, with an average of 140 caseloads per month and 126 mobile care workers.

Here their services help residents receive the care and support they require in their place of choice whilst ensuring they achieve their independent living goals and providing reassurance of their welfare to loved ones.

The challenges:

Due to their service being popular and in high demand, with interest in the service rising, North Lincolnshire needs a system that would support the rostering and management of their short-term care services. Running the services 24/7 they needed a system that could be flexible and adapt to the changing needs of the community and its workforce to ensure no individual goes without the care and support they need and deserve.

The current system they were using to manage their service was being decommissioned, so it was imperative that their new system would better meet the needs of their services including increasing engagement with individuals and their families through digital channels.

The Solution:

They decided to use our Access CM solution for many reasons. One of the main reasons why North Lincolnshire chose Access CM was due to the opportunities our solution offered to improve both the rostering and scheduling of visits, as well as the increased transparency for supervisors to better support the changing needs of both workforces and the community more effectively.

Here we also offered the opportunity to make managing admin easier and more efficient by allowing supervisors, mobile care workers, and loved ones to have access to the information they need in the palm of their hands through our newly updated mobile app.

These opportunities therefore made Access CM a great choice for North Lincolnshire so they can digitally transform their social care to improve outcomes and deliver a better continuity of care.

The Outcomes:

Since using Access CM, North Lincolnshire has experienced many benefits. Some of the main ones can be categorised into three main themes:

1. Enhanced Management Oversight
2. Increased engagement
3. More flexibility for the workforce

1. Enhanced Management Oversight

Ultimately one of the biggest outcomes North Lincolnshire has been able to achieve is an enhanced management oversight. As a result, their business continuity has increased and they have been able to deliver higher quality rehabilitation and reablement services that are catered to the individual through completely digitalising their whole service.

Now they no longer need to use manual interventions when digital data is unavailable and instead can be notified of changes to arrange and schedule timely support between appointments for those who need it. In turn, this improves the physical health and wellbeing of their community as both the service users and their families can be left reassured that support will be there when they need it, allowing North Lincolnshire to deliver better joined-up quality care that concentrates on delivering more preventative than reactive care to delay future care needs, dependency on emergency care and primary care, and increase independence to avoid hospitalisations.

Now through using digital e-forms, North Lincolnshire’s Home First Community Service has been able to collect, manage, and share essential information quickly and efficiently across the workforce to always deliver the care that’s needed. This, in turn, has enabled supervisors and managers to have up-to-date insight into visits to enable timely responses beyond appointment schedules.

2. Increased Engagement

By digitally transforming the way they organise their care services, North Lincolnshire has been able to consistently deliver to the increasing demand and workforce expansion without going over the allocated budget. This, in turn, has helped prove the efficiency of our solution across their workforce and help them meet statutory regulations and requirements.

By creating portals for each caseload, they have been able to increase transparency regarding the improvements each individual has been making. This transparency extends to service users and their families, who can easily access real-time updates and progress reports. As a result, all stakeholders are better informed, enabling more collaborative and proactive care planning. Improved visibility ensures that interventions are timely and tailored to the unique needs of each individual, ultimately enhancing care outcomes and fostering greater independence.

3. More flexibility for the workforce

Another major benefit has been the increase in workforce flexibility, leading to more efficient and responsive care deliveries.

One of the key benefits is the ease of making staff changes without the need to recreate rotas. This capability ensures minimal disruption to care schedules and maintains continuity, allowing staff to be reassigned quickly and effectively. Our system’s intuitive interface has simplified the process of adding new services and the allocation of visits to service users, ensuring that care plans can be adjusted prompting to meet evolving needs.

Real-time notifications have been another significant advantage for the workforce at Home First Community Service. These alerts enable schedulers to respond swiftly to changes, such as sudden staff absences or urgent care requirements. This responsiveness ensures that service delivery remains uninterrupted, enhancing overall service reliability. Additionally, the recent updates to our mobile app have greatly improved care workers' ability to manage their schedules on the go. They can now easily view appointments, access previous visit journal entries, and review planned visit homes, making each appointment more efficient and effective.

The enhanced mobile app functionality also contributes to the improved safety of lone care workers. By providing detailed schedules and visit information in advance, care workers can better prepare for their tasks, fostering a greater sense of security and confidence in their work environment. The tagging in and out feature, along with the ability to complete e-forms on-site, further streamlines the process, reducing administrative burdens and allowing care workers to focus more on delivering quality care.

Finally, the quick delivery of e-forms and appointment reports ensures that supervisors are promptly informed of any issues or concerns. This immediate communication allows for timely interventions, reducing the risk of service users needing additional medical support or services. By ensuring that supervisors can quickly address potential problems, our CM solution helps maintain high standards of care and promotes better outcomes for service users. Overall, the increased flexibility provided by our CM solution has enhanced the efficiency, safety, and responsiveness of the workforce for North Lincolnshire, leading to improved care delivery and service user satisfaction.

Access has provided exceptional additional support and guidance we require to help us get the most out of the CM solution. The improved transparency is essential in large mobile care workforces to support changes to work approaches.

Tammy Marshall, Registered Team Manager at Home First

The Future:

North Lincolnshire has experienced significant benefits using our Access CM solution, including enhanced workforce flexibility, improved responsiveness to service changes, and greater safety for lone care workers. The ease of making staff changes, adding new services, and real-time notifications have streamlined their operations, leading to more efficient and effective care delivery.

We cannot wait to see how their care outcomes improve further to deliver more improved outcomes that concentrate on every individual. It’s been great to be a part of their digital transformation journey so far for their short-term care services and we cannot wait to be more involved as they embark on the next steps of their digital journey.

Here we are excited to support their business intelligence goals by developing advanced reporting and intelligence-driven business approaches to ensure they continue to achieve high standards of service and care continuity.

To learn more about our CM solution and how we can digitally transform your social care, rehabilitation, or reablement services today contact us now.  

We can show you first-hand how we can help your community improve its outcomes to increase independence, provide reassurance, and most importantly improve quality of life.