Tracking the progression of goals for the individuals you support is essential for delivering person-centred care, maintaining compliance with Care Quality Commission (CQC) standards, and fostering trust with families and stakeholders. This chapter explores best practices for tracking goal progression in social care and how digital systems can support this critical process.
Why track goal progression?
1. Drive more person-centred outcomes
It’s important to have oversight of where a service user is currently at with working towards a particular goal. For example, if they would like to start volunteering locally but are having challenges with getting the bus on their own, then they are going to be held back with goal progression. The only way you and your care team are going to be aware of this, is if you are effectively tracking goals.
2. Provide evidence for regulatory compliance
CQC’s single assessment framework requires providers to demonstrate person-centred care. By documenting and tracking your service user’s goals, you show inspectors that your organisation is committed to achieving meaningful outcomes for service users.
3. Support service user development
Tracking enables care teams to identify areas where service users excel and areas needing more support, ensuring resources are directed appropriately. Let's take the above example of a service user wanting to volunteer locally but having challenges getting the bus; by effectively tracking goals, you are able to uncover weaknesses that could be worked on in separate goals. For example, by setting a new goal for the service user to get the bus without support.
4. Strengthen family and stakeholder communication
Sharing clear, documented progress reassures families and stakeholders that you and your team are actively working towards agreed goals. Having these clearly tracked also means that if a supported person were to get stuck with a goal, you could discuss this with a family or friend and work with them to overcome challenges.
Best practices for tracking goal progression
1. Assign consistent carers
Assigning consistent carers to a supported person is integral for care continuity. Without care continuity, making progress with goals is going to be much harder to manage. A regular carer will better understand the nuances of a service user’s preferences, challenges, and progress. When carers aren’t consistent, you also run the risk of duplicating work where carers are supporting service users on milestones that they have already accomplished. This can be incredibly frustrating for service users.
2. Conduct regular reviews and updates
Establishing weekly or monthly reviews ensures that goals remain relevant, and that challenges or blockers are addressed in a timely way. These meetings provide an opportunity to adjust timelines, introduce new goals, discuss challenges and celebrate milestones.
3. Collaborate with families and friends
Keeping families informed builds trust and creates opportunities for them to contribute. For example, sharing progress on a goal like learning to cook can encourage families to support their loved one in achieving their goal by helping them to cook on visits.
4. Ensure staff engagement and training
Equip staff with the tools and knowledge to document and track progress effectively. Training sessions on using digital care platforms or setting measurable goals are crucial for successful implementation. This way, teams know exactly how to get the most up-to-date information on a service user’s goals and therefore minimises the chance of working with them on outdated goals.
5. Leverage digital systems for tracking
Digital systems like Log my Care make goal tracking in social care straightforward and effective.
With Log my Care’s Outcomes and Goals feature, you can easily monitor progress at both an individual and organisational level. For individuals, it provides a clear view of how service users are progressing toward their goals. At an organisational level, it offers useful statistics to help you understand how goals are being set and achieved across your service.
These tools help ensure that service users are supported in working toward meaningful goals, improving their overall quality of life. They also provide the information needed to keep families informed and demonstrate person-centred care to regulatory bodies with confidence.
The organisational benefits of tracking goal progression
1. Enhanced oversight for managers
Tracking tools give care managers a bird’s-eye view of goal progression across the organisation, enabling them to identify trends and allocate resources efficiently.
2. Improved care team collaboration
Digital platforms strengthen teamwork by allowing multiple carers to access and update records. This ensures seamless communication and supports continuity of care, even across shift changes.
3. Strengthened reputation with inspectors
During CQC inspections, well-documented evidence of goal progression highlights the organisation’s commitment to quality care, increasing the likelihood of a positive rating.
Elevating care with digital goal tracking systems
Tracking goal progression is more efficient and effective when using digital systems designed for the care sector. Platforms like Log my Care empower care teams to:
- Document milestones in real-time: Record progress as it happens, making updates immediately accessible to all relevant stakeholders.
- Visualise progress: Generate graphs, timelines, and reports to provide a clear picture of how effectively you are implementing goals in your organisation.
- Automate reminders: Keep teams informed about upcoming reviews or overdue goals, ensuring nothing is overlooked.
- Centralise communication: Create a shared space where families, carers, and managers can collaborate on goal progression.
You can read more about how digital systems support with the implementation of goals in chapter three of this e-book.
Effectively tracking goal progression isn’t just about meeting regulatory standards—it’s about providing the best possible care for service users. By adopting digital systems and nurturing collaboration with the people you support, care providers can ensure every service user receives personalised, outcome-driven care. This approach drives positive outcomes with families being happy with the care their loved ones are receiving and also supports your organisation with meeting the requirements for a positive rating.
Want to have more oversight of the goals in your organisation? Book a demo with Log my Care and discover how our digital tools can transform the way you track and achieve service user goals.
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