Following Government guidelines on social distancing and self-isolation is vital in any industry, but maintaining safe staffing requirements in care homes holds its own, unique challenges.
Increasingly staff members will be calling in because they, or a family member, have recorded a temperature, or begun to cough. There’s simply no way you can encourage them to work on through – you have some of the UK’s most vulnerable people in your care.
Instead, you’re in a position where you’ve got to think outside the box and work in ways that you haven’t ever had to before, including remote working for those staff who are non-essential to your residents’ care.
Here are our insights into what you can do to reduce unnecessary footfall in your homes, whilst keeping your residents well cared for.
think strategically about who needs to enter homes.
The more staff you can move offsite, the less risk you’ll bring the infection into the home. Do you have administrators, compliance or regional staff who can fulfil their role offsite?
Careful auditing of staff is important here, you need to divide staff into those who can (and therefore should) work from home and those whose role requires a physical presence in the home. This will allow you to make key decisions concerning staff deployment, without the concern that you will lose oversight of the commercial aspects of your business operations.
being flexible when you cannot actually access the building.
We’ve seen already in these extraordinary times how quickly people’s working conditions are changing, and care homes need to work more flexibly than ever. The old ways of working, where perhaps we are reliant on a specific location or using office-based equipment, for example, need careful thought.
Accessing a building to get hold of a physical document may not be as necessary as having staff on-site to provide care – but you still need access to that info to keep your business operating. Ultimately, care homes must strive towards having a process that isn’t solely dependent on location or personnel.
Using software like CoolCare allows centralised record keeping, and most importantly, keeps staff off-site! Ensuring that records are not kept in one place or held by one person at this time is crucial to keep care home management running smoothly. Remember, you might not be able to pick up the phone to ask someone for the latest info if they are unwell so you need to ensure you can still access that information in their absence.
accessing the essential data when working remotely.
The question to ask is: what key data needs to be accessible without reliance on presence in a specific location, such as a care home or Head Office?
Care home management systems, like CoolCare, enable your staff to securely access your essential business data remotely – whether this means keeping track of new admissions, keeping on top of invoicing, monitoring time and attendance or maintaining access to an easy-to-plan rostering tool to constantly monitor staffing levels without stepping foot into a home.
Whatever challenge comes your way, we’re here to work with you and make sure that the care home industry can work through this crisis. We’re here and ready to talk – to find out more about CoolCare simply visit www.coolcare4.co.uk or call the team on 0113 385 3853
