This week, one of the organisations leading the way in digitising care services has hosted an event at its Park Hall Care Home in Stoke on Trent to celebrate the successful completion of its Digital Care Planning project. Anchor, England’s largest not-for-profit provider of housing and care for people in later life, has seen first-hand the transformational change that moving from an analogue approach to a digital one has had for both its residents and colleagues.
The event, which took place on Monday 19th August, kicked off with a lunch for residents, colleagues and invited guests and included a demonstration of the digital system as well as entertainment for residents throughout the afternoon. Councillor and Lord Mayor of Stoke on Trent Lyn Sharpe was in attendance.
Anchor’s Digital Care Planning project has been revolutionary for its care homes, allowing colleagues to capture key information more quickly and efficiently on handheld devices at the time of delivering care to residents. This ensures much more detailed information on residents and their wellbeing is recorded to further enhance quality of care. Going digital also frees up time for colleagues to spend more quality time with residents.
It has also allowed the organisation to capture a much richer level of data than it ever has before, giving a clearer oversight of what is going on within the services and how well things are working on a broader scale across the organisation. By removing paper care plans, this is more environmentally friendly too, which supports Anchor’s focus on sustainability.
Anchor is also well on the way to digitising medication records, with over half of its 120 care homes already live with the digital system.
Rob Martin, Managing Director of Care Services at Anchor says: “At Anchor, we have implemented new digital care planning systems that improve safety, outcomes and increases time with residents. We want to empower our colleagues with the tools they need to ensure they can make time for what matters most. We believe that moving our care planning services to a digital model is the way to do that. This latest event is a celebration of the hard work that has gone in to making it happen.”
Rachael Smith, Care Home Manager of Anchor’s Park Hall Care Home says: “The move to a digital approach has been a great move for us during our day-to-day work. It makes everything more efficient and ensures that notes can be taken in a timely manner without interfering with valuable time spent with our residents. We look forward to seeing how this move can continue to help us to deliver the best level of care possible.”
Lyn Sharpe, Councillor and Lord Mayor of Stoke on Trent says: “It has been great to be part of Anchor’s celebration today and an excellent opportunity to see the progress and innovation made possible within the care sector through moving to a digital care planning approach. I look forward to seeing how this develops in the future and applaud Anchor for being at the forefront of this change.”
