We caught up with Nigel Lemmon, one of the trustees at Community Integrated Care, who went to see how they have found the implementation of Nourish’s digital care planning platform across some of their services.
Community Integrated Care is one of the UK’s largest health and social care charities, working in the community delivering life-enhancing support to people with a diverse range of care needs including learning disabilities, mental health concerns, autism, age-related needs and dementia.
Founded in 1988, Community Integrated Care now support thousands of people across England and Scotland, with a wide range of needs and abilities, to live the best life possible.
Community Integrated Care started their journey with Nourish in 2018 and we have seen first-hand how innovative and forward-thinking they are as an organisation and in how they approach the care and support they provide. They have since been crowned the Charity Times Charity of the Year for 2019/20 for their innovative approach to care.
How have colleagues found moving to an electronic care planning system?
Our support colleagues have been very quick to adopt Nourish, and they really like it. It was really reassuring to hear how enthusiastic people were about it so early on in the process.
What are some of the initial thoughts across Community Integrated Care about the Nourish system?
Our colleagues have noticed the benefits already. It’s significantly reduced the amount of time spent on paperwork, but more importantly, it’s allowed us to focus on our person-centered approach to care, and record this more effectively.
We’re able to capture the little things, things that might not necessarily get remembered at the end of a long day, and we can record interactions in detail which is giving us a better insight into the type of care each person needs so we can really tailor it to the individual.
Are there any features you think are particularly effective in comparison to paper-based note taking?
It’s really exciting to see how some of the features are supporting our delivery of care and reducing the amount of admin time for our support colleagues. What’s lovely is we can add photos of the people we’re supporting enjoying their day, and we can also give them some input by using the feelings chart to record how they are doing.
Recording digitally also means that critical care information is available immediately, allowing our staff to respond quicker, and reports are available within seconds so we can monitor the care being give more closely and accurately.
What differences have you seen in the recording of care?
We’ve seen a huge difference, even at this early stage. One thing that’s particularly amazing is the effect it’s having on those we support as well. At one site, we have three people with autism that we care for, and they were very interested in the new system.
Two of them actually wanted to take a look at the device because they knew it had photos of them on, and one of them who has never taken an interest in the laptop that’s in the home, was now curious and very open to sitting down with our support colleagues and discussing this technology with them.
This is a really positive difference that we didn’t expect, but we’re really excited to see the positive impact it’s having on everyone.
What are your thoughts on technology within the care sector after seeing Nourish in action?
It’s really positive. I think we need to make commissioners and other health care providers aware of the benefits of this kind of system. We shouldn’t see it as a threat or a danger, but rather see how ultimately it will make the whole industry and all the services we provide much more directed at person-centered care.
To find out more about Community Integrated Services and their care, visit www.c-i-c.co.uk.
