CareLineLive founder proves invisible disabilities are not a barrier to success

Josh Hough, who founded CareLineLive, a total care management system for home care providers, believes that although people’s attitudes to disabilities have improved, “there is still a significant amount to be done, in particular, with people’s attitudes to invisible disabilities”.

The Invisible Disabilities Association defines an invisible disability as ‘a physical, mental or neurological condition that is not visible from the outside, yet can limit or challenge a person’s movements, senses, or activities’. It adds that ‘unfortunately, the very fact that these symptoms are invisible can lead to misunderstandings, false perceptions, and judgments’.

Mr Hough, who founded CareLineLive after his grandfather became ill and needed home care, himself has a rare muscle weakening disorder called Minicore Myopathy.

“This is something I don’t often talk about in business, because I’ve always tried to hide away from it, thinking that things like this become a sign of weakness, a vulnerability, but also that I’ve never wanted the ‘pity’ vote,” he says.

His disability has given him motivation and “a fantastic determination to prove that barriers are only there if you believe they are. It would be easy to rest on the disability and let it be the face of who I am, but instead I’ve always worked to push past it”.

He reveals that his "biggest issue is that my determination comes at the detriment of self-preservation. In many cases, the desire not to let my disability get in the way of who I am and what I can achieve comes to bite me later through pain or exhaustion and that’s my own fault, but then when I turn around and look at what I have achieved I can’t help but be proud of destroying those barriers."

Mr Hough describes CareLineLive as a “game changing product for anyone in the home care industry, whether you’re receiving care or providing it”.

CareLineLive is an award-winning cloud-based rostering, management and monitoring system. The CareLineLive Carer Companion Mobile App allows for home care worker tracking and has a verifiable QR code system for checking in and out of visits. That means reassurance for both families and the care worker.

Their hours are automatically logged, they can instantly update records and have access to real-time information about their clients, including eMAR (electronic Medical Administration Records), to deliver responsive care. CareLineLive also automates processes such as invoicing and payroll.

Mr Hough was helped in creating his product by his personal experience of the care sector when his grandfather was ill, as well as by learning from the home care agencies themselves.

“Like all good ideas, there was a lot of ideas, a lot of ‘what ifs’, but what makes CareLineLive different is that our ‘what ifs’ have been thought through from our customers’ perspectives, not what we as ‘IT people’ think. That’s helped us demonstrate that we’re real people who have a real understanding of how people in home care agencies work, and genuinely want to alleviate their stress and provide more time to care through CareLineLive,” he says.

Mr Hough believes CareLineLive has the capability to really make a difference and he hopes that “through our digital care planning, the level of information carers have at their fingertips allows the quality of care and the time spent with customers to improve even more.

“I’d like to see CareLineLive being instrumental in the improvement of home care within not just the UK but in other countries too. It’s my hope that CareLineLive can become one of the top four, if not the top player in the home care market.”

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