Balancing tech investments with person-centred care

As aged care providers continue to adopt new programs and applications to help streamline compliance in light of major reform, there are calls to remember the role person-centred care plays in design and development.

Yvonne Timson, Chief Executive Officer of home care provider Community Vision, said focusing on customer outcomes inspired the organisation to develop its own software technology – via Salesforce – to remain compliant, productive and efficient. From a leadership perspective, Ms Timson wanted a system that empowered staff and consumers by really investing in their quality of care. 

“You have to carry multiple goals all the time; we are a customer-centric business, so what are we doing to ensure we are providing the care and support for the consumer in the best way possible and not letting the system dictate what care they get?” Ms Timson said.

“The technology also makes it easier for our staff to deliver care. You can’t be a customer-centric business by not putting your staff first so it’s really important they find technology that enables them and doesn’t get in the way.”

“If you have a system where you need 43 clicks to do anything, people are going to find the workaround, they’re not going to follow the rules. That’s when your quality and your compliance go down and you start having issues.”

Community Vision also needed a program catering to a wide home care audience; they offer aged care, disability and daycare services. Person-centred care was crucial and Ms Timson felt it was best to have complete control over its development. 

“Businesses have to prepare for the present and the future if they’re going to be sustainable. That is so much easier if you’re putting the customer in the centre of what you do,” Ms Timson explained.”

“As for technology vendors, they’re not the ones who work with our customers all the time, sometimes they’re not as passionate about ensuring people are independent and have a purpose for life for as long as possible. We hold that passion so we know what needs to be done for our customers and for our business.”

Now, staff can access the exact information they need to make informed decisions regarding clients, while those same clients can independently interact with the same system. This accessibility has even led to some older clients showing off to their care workers by teaching new things they’ve discovered. 

But aside from those feel-good moments, Ms Timson said staff members are benefiting from data and technology investments because they can take on more responsibility in a supported environment.

“Employees are building stronger relationships with the customer and feeling more empowered because they can see the whole of the care plan, the whole of the record and previous case notes,” she said.

“They have all information and if they’ve spotted a change or a decline they can ring up a manager or one of the clinical teams straight away and actually know they’ve made a real positive difference by potentially preventing a harmful incident.”

Other capabilities include:

• Categorising consumers based on the complexity of needs
• Recognising whether consumers could be supported through a more cost-effective home care package
• Serious incidents are instantly classified and notifications are sent to multiple people at once to ensure compliance is maintained

The focus on person-centred care during the program’s design and development means they’re not just ticking boxes for compliance, but reducing the administrative burden on staff 

“We keep talking about having to do more with less. We’re comfortable with additional compliance but we know it comes at a cost. Whether that’s from an administrative burden or additional management cost, it’s an additional cost to the business,” she said.

“Aged care is in a very tight margin environment and most organisations are actually bordering on losing money at the moment. Efficiency and letting systems do the heavy lifting with administrative burden is critical to our viability.”