We caught up with the manager at the Stag Care Group to find out how they’ve been getting on using Nourish. They have been using Nourish for two years in their residential care home, Meera House.
What do you like most about using Nourish?
I honestly could not pick one thing! I have used paper for 20 years and this system is the best product I have ever used in my home. It keeps everything up to date and as a manager I have an overview of everything at my fingertips. And the opportunity to be really creative in tailoring interactions to meet the specific needs of our individuals, so that we can design a truly unique service for each person.
What is your favourite feature of Nourish?
The timelines. Being able to scan quickly an individual’s timeline to identify what has happened that day and what remains outstanding. This both serves as a work prompt and as a conversation prompt, simple things like if Nourish shows they went to the cinema earlier that day, I can ask them what they thought of the film they saw, again enhancing an individual’s experience with us.
How do you think Nourish has helped you to enhance quality care?
Our care has improved significantly, and with access to Nourish 24/7 it means we can continually check that everything is being done correctly. We have reduced our number of falls for example, and we can also better record food intake so that we can understand our residents better and provide them the care that is tailored to their needs.
“I have used paper for 20 years and this system is the best product I have ever used in my home. It keeps everything up to date and as a manager I have an overview of everything at my fingertips.”
Would you say that information is more accessible with Nourish?
Yes absolutely. Once I was asked to provide information to a CQC inspector on challenging behaviour and within five minutes I had a report up that I was able to respond to CQC with on the same day.
What were your main concerns when considering switching to a digital way of working? How did the team help overcome these fears?
I didn’t have many concerns but I knew that some of the staff wouldn’t be so open to using a digital handset. We had fantastic training from day one and our trainer, Jackie, communicated with the staff in a way that everyone felt they understood the system. Training was just a few days but we knew we had support at the other end of the phone should we ever need it, and the system was simple to follow.
What has the on-going support been like since going live?
Very good! The support team are very kind and supportive of any questions you have and they explain things very well.
Has Nourish had a positive impact on communication within the team?
Yes, we have grown so much as a team. We can send messages using the direct message function and I am able to provide closer support to those who need it in my care team.
Have you had any feedback from residents or their families about you using Nourish?
We had one family who likes to have a copy of the care plan, and now we are able to give them access to that via the family portal on Nourish and they think it’s great. They can get peace of mind by seeing what care is being provided.
How has Nourish helped you to report on the care your service is providing for CQC purposes?
When we had a CQC inspection I was able to simply log them into Nourish and allow them to have full access to everything which really impressed them. We were able to be completely transparent about the care which showed openness and honesty, not to mention made the process much quicker for us and them.
Has Nourish helped you to identify any trends or identify something that you wouldn’t have on paper?
Yes, primarily through the reporting function, and designing specific interactions to capture information such as individual wellbeing, on a daily basis. This means we can track fluctuations and review these at an individual level.
I am able to see where the gaps are more easily, for example if a care plan review hasn’t been done, and I can also review medication more easily.
“Nourish has given us the opportunity to be really creative in tailoring interactions to meet the specific needs of our individuals, so that we can design a truly unique service for each person.”
We can then consider whether changes to our service can be made to improve that individuals overall experience. Likewise, we can use the reporting function to pull together internal audits and incidents that have occurred over a period of time in a home with a view to analyse the overall picture, spot trends and consider improvements that might be made.
Is there a task or process that you feel has greatly improved since using Nourish? What feature has helped to improve it?
Monthly meetings each individual has with a designated member of staff. This is quite an extensive meeting covering a lot of different aspects of an individual’s life with us. Capturing that information so we could build on it and begin to put their wishes into action has been made significantly more effective by adding it as an interaction on Nourish.
Extensions of this processes now include using the Appointment Record interaction to future date events they wish to partake in and amending/tailoring their existing timeline and/or existing interactions to ensure their changes to the interactions they have each day are realised.
