~ About electronic homecare call monitoring ~

Local Authorities across the UK are often unable to prove that Homecare is being delivered in accordance with assessed need.

Regardless of whether the care is being supplied through an in-house service or by the independent sector through private owned companies or voluntary organisations the same issues continually arise:-

Additionally, Local Authorities frequently pay for commissioned care and not care actually delivered. The invoicing process is often labour intensive with thousands of individual invoices being processed every month with no real proof that the care has been satisfactorily delivered.

The advent of technology and a drive for efficiency in the delivery of public services championed by the Department of Health's Care Services Efficiency Delivery Program (CSED) has provided the opportunity for Councils to use Electronic Homecare Call Monitoring to replace the existing paper-based systems.

The Care workers electronically log in and out of service users' home's using one of a variety of systems ranging from a freephone call using the service user's land-line telephone, to barcode readers, to touching in and out using smart mobile phones.

Which ever method is chosen data is captured which identifies which carer has visited which service user at what time and the duration of the visit. Various 'add-ons' allow care workers to record duties undertaken during the visit etc. Alerts can be set to ensure time critical visits are undertaken within a specific timeframe.

This data, which can be viewed in 'real-time', can be compared with commissioned care to confirm that the care is being delivered within pre-agreed tolerances. This quality assurance process also identifies packages which may require a review to enable the 'recycling' of unused minutes of care to where they are needed.

The visit data also provides an opportunity to streamline the invoice process. Different systems provide different solutions but most offer a matching process which allows agreed visits to be automatically paid whilst others are 'parked' pending agreement. Reverse invoicing can be used to allow the Local Authority to pay without the need for any invoicing offering significant savings in administrative resources.