Tablets set to 'revolutionise' home care in the UK

People will soon be able to tap on a tablet to tell their care worker when they need a visit, thanks to technology adopted for the first time by a UK home care agency.

The Mid Shropshire and South West Staffordshire franchise of home care agency Carewatch will be handing out tablets to each of its customers in Shropshire and Staffordshire to empower them to get the help they need whenever they need it rather than at allotted times.

The technology means people who need domiciliary care are not restricted by the schedule of their care worker.

Steve Harris, director of the company based in Telford said: “It will work in the same way as a pull cord for people in sheltered accommodation - but our customers will still live independently and press a button to call for assistance.”

The social care portal will also provide a way of reminding customers when to go to the pharmacy, take a prescription and will help users make video calls with family and friends, view favourite websites or join in with exercises classes streamed online.

Mr Harris added: “This is a way to look at a customers’ well being, making sure they are not isolated in their own home.

"This scheme turns the home care system on its head and puts the needs of the customer at the centre of everything and builds the system around them, rather than what the company is able to provide at a certain time.

“We hope it would be the end of the stories you hear of someone only being able to go to the toilet in a 10 minute period at 9am when their care worker comes in the morning.

“If they need the toilet they can press the call button and someone can come and help them then.”

The tablet has a simple interface with large bold writing which allows users to communicate, search the web and send messages easily.

Carewatch is looking to take on eight new members of staff to enable it to pilot the technology which it says will “revolutionise the care industry in the UK”.

The agency plans to roll out the technology after Christmas. This is the second technology-driven move made by the agency this year, following Carewatch’s adoption of an app for staff to log care to reduce paperwork and increase efficiency for its 50 employees.

For the past two months, staff have been using the app to document their work and the company has digitised its care plans, logs and assessments. As a result, the app has already helped the firm save 10 per cent on its administrative costs.

The agency director believes cost-saving technology can help ease home care providers’ financial pressures, particularly since a recent United Kingdom Homecare Association (UKHCA) survey has found 11 per cent of all providers thought that they would 'definitely' or 'probably' have ceased trading within the next twelve months.

He said: “Unless you start to embrace technology you will have no business. If you stick with paper you will find it very difficult to make a profit.

"You need to modify and change or go bankrupt - and you can’t change overnight, you need to be forward thinking, you need training and there are costs involved.

“It is a process of at least a year, if people don’t do it now you won’t have a business.”