Care Software - The do's and the don'ts

This week's blog focuses on the biggest dos and don'ts when it comes to care home software. There's loads of choice out there, so you need to know what to do and what not to.

Do pick a system that saves you time

A lot of the care software out there claims to save you time, but if your carers spend ages having to learn the system and faff about to get it to work, it'll end up taking more time than it saves. The best care home software is always simple to use!

Don't get pulled into spending loads up front

Plenty of care software companies will be happy to sell you a load of different hardware in order to use their system. Whilst wall-mounted computers and special kit might seem interesting and innovative at first, the likelihood is that this will cost a fair old bit and will draw resources away from directly providing care.

Do your research and find the right care home software for you

This might sound fairly obvious but make sure you find the right care software for your home's unique way of running will be fairly tough. Most of the different software out there is designed for a specific target audience and plenty won't be able to cover all of the areas you need or even act in a way that's sympathetic to your operating requirements.

Don't buy into a system that doesn't allow you to play with it beforehand

If the care software is hidden from your up-front use behind a load of red-tape you can bet that it's hidden for a reason. You should always be able to see all carer facing aspects of the system before you commit to purchasing.

Do look into care software that enables you to use voice recording for care notes

This one may sound a bit out of place, but the amount of time your carers can save by having their phone translate a narrated care note into a written one is great. This is especially good for care homes which have staff who aren't that confident in their written English.

Don't purchase care software which hides the data

Care home owners and Care Managers need to be able to see the information required to properly run the business, whenever they need. If the care software doesn't show you care reporting and activities as they happen, then you should move on and look at another offering.