Care provider Exemplar Health Care has implemented an online dashboard that provides real-time information about staffing levels across its 32 homes to help it manage during the Covid pandemic.
Since the start of the pandemic, Exemplar Health Care has recruited over 200 new support workers on both temporary and permanent contracts, and has enlisted the support of temporary and agency staff to help cover staff shortages due to sickness or isolation.
In response, Exemplar has introduced new tools and processes to ensure its homes have the required staff levels to provide the best quality care.
When colleagues enter and leave one of the care homes, they are required to sign in and out on an iPad.
The information feeds into the new dashboard and is updated every 15 minutes - providing the operations team with a real-time view of how many colleagues are in each home at any given time.
“Our care homes are staffed 24/7, so one of my key priorities each day is guaranteeing that we have the right number of colleagues working in our care homes to support our service users,” said senior director of operations Selina Wall.
She added: “This is even more pressing when staffing levels are driven by the assessed needs of the people that we support. The implementation of the dashboard has provided me with real time information and reassurance.
“This is a much more efficient way of tracking staffing levels as it has reduced the number of emails and phone calls with home managers, meaning that we all have more time to spend supporting our residents and colleagues.”
