Carewatch (Bexley), part of the Carewatch network, which provides care and support to people in their own homes, has rolled-out Advanced Health & Care’s (Advanced) electronic call monitoring solution, iConnect, to its 71 employees. It has also invested in 65 NFC Gentag handsets, inclusive of EE airtime, provided by Advanced.

iConnect delivers real-time task lists and service user data to care workers via their mobile phones, recording actual arrival and departure times using NFC technology. To prove attendance, care workers simply touch in and out at each visit, using their NFC-enabled iConnect Gentag device, coupled with radio-frequency identification (RFID) tags fitted within service users’ homes.

The data collected from iConnect is fed back to Advanced’s staff rostering system, StaffPlan Roster, which Carewatch (Bexley) has been using since it was founded 10 years ago, giving managers a holistic view of workers’ schedules. iConnect time and attendance data will also be used for billing purposes, ensuring that commissioners are invoiced as accurately as possible.

“We were already looking into iConnect when the local authority made it a requirement for care providers to implement an electronic call monitoring solution,” said Carewatch (Bexley) managing director, Paul Chawla-Lidbury. “We knew that, as well as driving efficiencies, it would allow us to significantly improve communication between the management and care workers. We also liked the lone worker safety feature, which protects the care worker and sends a signal to the team should an issue be identified.

“The solution means that care workers are fully aware of their appointments and the tasks they need to complete. Knowing exactly when they are arriving and leaving service users’ homes will also improve accountability and lone worker safety. We also anticipate significant cost savings by eliminating the need for paper timesheets thereby saving money on postage costs, paper costs, printing toners, envelopes etc.”