CareLineLive Advocates for Digital Home Care Agency Management to Address Sector Staffing Shortages

CareLineLive, a leading home care management software provider, recommends the competitive advantage of innovation to transform retention and staff recruitment amid nationwide shortages in home care.

CareLineLive, a market-leading UK care management software provider specialising in advanced solutions for home care agencies, has recommended managers turn their attention to the competitive advantage of innovation to transform retention and scale up recruitment amid nationwide shortages.

While home care is very much a person-centred service, the company explains why digital management tools are key to addressing long-standing issues and the missing link in meeting ever-increasing demand.

UK Home Care: Staffing and Retention Challenges

Professional home care, at a glance, is an attractive career opportunity. Aspiring carers can often learn on the job and achieve long-term employment security and stability, given the ageing British population and demand for care services delivered in the home.

However, last month The Guardian reported that most of the 165,000 vacancies in social care relate to home care roles, indicating a lack of take-up that is leaving agencies in crisis.

The contributing issues are complex and have accumulated over time, but they relate to the following:

• Low average pay rates for both trainee and qualified home carers; The Health Foundation reported in October 2022 that 20% of care workers were living in poverty.
• Poor working conditions, with zero-hours contracts, lack of stability or an absence of management support reported as common problems.
• Inflexible scheduling, where carers cannot commit to changes in scheduled shifts and ad hoc new shifts or hours due to familial, personal and childcare obligations.

While the issue of high demand and low availability persists across the sector, CareLineLive suggests that digitisation may be a solution that solves workforce retention and re-entry barriers and attracts new candidates with the aptitude to make a difference within their communities.

To be successful, home care agencies must balance the needs and expectations of home care workers alongside the requirements of the people and families they support.

Discovering Technological Solutions to UK Home Care Staffing Shortages

The shortage of home care services has been well-publicised. Still, the tech provider believes a step change to integrate enhanced app-based care management can provide a robust solution for every stakeholder.

To address the issues embedded in home care, the software provider, with extensive expertise collaborating with national, public sector and private care organisations, including NHS Trusts, advocates for a software-based solution. Straightforward, scalable and affordable tools provide rostering, planning and compliance monitoring. They are efficient and easy to implement, allowing managers to handle complex and diverse scheduling, on-demand updates and reporting, care task checklists, and live communication.

The tools meet the most diligent regulatory requirements and at the same time can make a profound difference to staff retention and satisfaction through:

• Flexibility: home care rota software means busy care coordinators can allocate care staff against placements, provide continuity, and ensure all shifts are scheduled within the selected carer's availability while reducing the administrative burden.
• Support: home carers often report feelings of isolation, whereas real-time call monitoring and alerts offer always-on management assistance and backup from senior carers, delivering the assurance of a supportive working environment.
• Planning: high-quality carers with fair remuneration opt to work for agencies with secure, reliable shifts and hours. This allows them to deliver a valued service without the stress of last-minute placements or cancellations that may affect their financial position.

This level of interactivity, communication, and direct dialogue can make a difference to a carer's confidence in performing their role to the best of their abilities and reduces HR, management and administration costs, allowing agencies to provide more competitive pay rates and a positive workforce experience.

The Advantage of Home Care Software for Agencies

Josh Hough, Founder, and Managing Director at CareLineLive says: "Innovation has proven to be fundamental, where the home care sector continues to experience demand that outstrips supply many times over, and where conventional systems simply cannot keep pace.

This is recognised by the targets set by the Department of Health & Social Care, where 80% of CQC registered social care providers in England are expected to have digitised record-keeping by March 2024.

As experts in home care management software, we are invested in the benefits that simplified, dynamic and accessible apps can deliver. We are dedicated to revolutionising home care by highlighting the solutions to long-standing obstacles.

Many of the clients, organisations and companies we support have struggled with outdated or paper-based solutions, which in turn drive costs higher and reduce staff retention and recruitment. Following a transition, our clients see a quantifiable uptick in admin efficiency and workforce satisfaction.

We stand for better care, better managed and help home care agencies upgrade to well-organised and highly efficient systems to ensure they have the capacity to scale, grow and succeed."

CareLineLive was set up almost ten years ago. The company is an award-winning home care management systems provider focused on secure cloud-based technology.

Read more about CareLineLive - CareLineLive Expands Partnership with Mid and South Essex NHS Trust to Free Up Hospital Beds

About CareLineLive
CareLineLive is an award winning UK care management software system that delivers complete functionality for home care businesses. Set up in 2014, CareLineLive has used the latest technology to develop for agency owners and managers an innovative, easy to use, cloud based home care management system that is truly fit for purpose.

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Source Company: https://carelinelive.com/