Tech-Enabled, Human-Led, User-Focused Home Care

Care24Seven is breaking new ground in the care industry with its revolutionary use of technology.

With a core infrastructure grounded in advanced technology, our humble beginnings may come as something of a surprise. Care24Seven has its roots in a story of family.

Our CEO Manoj and his sister Rhea needed home care for their elderly parents, who needed more consistent and professional care than their children could provide. The siblings came across many companies, but could never find one that balanced a solid internal infrastructure with that all-important human touch.

Manoj and Rhea didn’t want their parents to be treated as boxes to be ticked, forms to be signed off and consigned to a drawer. These were individuals and needed a care company who would treat them as such. The siblings realised that there was a gap in the market for a company that was as warm, respectful and human-led as it was efficient and organised.

Care24Seven was born. But that was only the beginning.

We use technology so that we aren’t robots

Acknowledging that your loved one requires some extra help at home can be a major life change for everyone involved. You need a care company who is compassionate, empathetic, understanding. In a predominantly paper-based industry, however, many service users and family members end up feeling like a number, a sum of paperwork, lost in the system.

Care24Seven’s approach is different. We are harnessing the power of technology, taking great strides within the industry — and all the while providing personable, professional, high-quality care to every service user.

We’ve ditched the paperwork for an interactive online system, in which service users, family, carers and management engage in real-time, up-to-the-minute live communication. By cutting out the red tape, we have the time to focus — to an unprecedented extent — on the needs, preferences and wellbeing of our service users. In doing so, we have stepped into uncharted territory — and are revolutionising the care industry.

Superb service for users and families alike

Care24Seven is a progressive and entirely tech-enabled company. Our infrastructure allows us to provide care to a standard superior to that of any other care company operating in the UK today.

Our infrastructure is grounded in two core technological advances.

1) Geolocation tracking of your carer

Every carer is assigned a mobile phone with a built-in geolocation tracking application. This allows us to keep track of where they are during their working day. We get notified when a carer arrives at your loved one’s home to begin their shift. More importantly, we are notified in the unlikely event that they don’t arrive. We can then immediately follow up by calling them on their mobile.

Let’s say your loved one’s carer is running a few minutes late. Maybe they’re stuck in traffic or ran a little over time at their previous home call. If a carer’s mobile phone geolocation has not confirmed their arrival at a service user’s home come the beginning of the shift time, management are notified and the carer is called on their mobile phone.

Our carers are highly reliable — we pride ourselves on arriving promptly for our service users. However, travelling between users’ homes inevitably means that holdups do occasionally happen. Perhaps there is an unusually high level of traffic, or there’s been an accident. Maybe there was an emergency at the carer’s last home call and they’ve needed to wait there for an ambulance.

In scenarios like this, other care companies might experience a frenzied rush of phone calls between service user, carer and management as some ad hoc worst-case-scenario plan is thrown together. More often than not, all that can be done is for the service user to simply wait. Delays have a snowball effect on the rest of the working day, with service users who have appointments booked later in the day also then being left to wait.

This is where our second high-tech innovation truly comes into its own!

2) Live rota system

A care company’s infrastructure revolves around its rota system. Which carer is visiting which service user? What day, what time?

Care companies traditionally consign their rota system to paper. Keeping it up to date can be laborious and time-consuming, especially when there are last-minute staffing changes to be made — such as carers being delayed in reaching a service user’s home. Moreover, carers are often assigned randomly, with little regard for whether a carer and service user have previously struck up a good relationship.

Care24Seven utilise a live, online rota system which is automated for optimal efficiency. Carers simply input their working hours and are assigned to homes based on geographical closeness and time availability. Nothing particularly revolutionary here — but it doesn’t end there.

Our automated system actually prioritises matching carers to service users with whom they have previously forged a good relationship. This ensures continuity of care and builds trust, as well as a genuine human relationship in which the carer really knows those they are looking after and understands their individual needs and preferences. This level of care has hitherto just not existed in the care industry.

But how does the system ‘know’ which carer has an especially good relationship with which service user? Care24Seven’s live system is not only online but also interactive, and can be accessed by service users and family alike, who can grade and give feedback on the carer and the service they have provided. Information gathered from the feedback between service user and carer helps us identify an optimal working relationship: which carer works best with which service user? In this way, we can constantly monitor and improve the quality of our service.

The ease of use of Care24Seven’s live system saves time and allows carers to focus on the important stuff, the kind of care that goes way beyond the basics and really delves into every service user’s personal preferences. Grandma Margaret’s carer won’t just make her a sandwich for lunch — they will know that Margaret only eats brown bread and doesn’t like cheese (unless thinly sliced and heavily garnished with pickle). Care24Seven have optimised their infrastructure by way of technological advances so that everyone can focus on what truly matters: the health and happiness of your loved one.

Worst-case scenario? No problem

Our live system is in constant communication with the geolocation of carers’ mobile phones. If a carer has not arrived at the agreed time, not only is a Care24Seven coordinator automatically informed but so are the service user’s family, by way of SMS notification. A simple, stress-free dialogue can then be had between all parties involved, ascertaining their whereabouts and their ETA.

What if the carer is simply unable to get there, though? And what if the service user is due to take their medication at midday and no-one is there to help administer it? No worries. Our live system automatically sends out a request to our emergency quick-response team of carers in the vicinity. No service user will ever be left without the home care they are expecting. We never miss a scheduled appointment time. We don’t even need to be told that a carer hasn’t arrived — we already know via the geolocation tracking.

Even in the event of a medical emergency, Care24Seven’s advanced tech system has everything covered. At paper-based care companies, key information for ambulance crew is generally kept in a physical folder in the service user’s home. This might be anything from what they had eaten that day to whether they’d reported feeling unwell or what medication they’d taken. These folders can get lost or damaged; some service users have even been known to hide them because they’re ashamed of visitors seeing they’re receiving care. No such scenario will occur with Care24Seven. Crucial information can be accessed instantly via the online system on the carer’s mobile phone, meaning no delays when immediate medical attention is required.

Keeping abreast of the day-to-day

The interactivity of our tech system means that not only can management communicate easily with family but that carers can update a service user’s record in real time. Meals, washes, administration of medication — all tasks are documented and ticked off accordingly.

Some service users have multiple carers who visit their home, and many companies often keep a service user’s daily records exclusively on paper. This can make things a little more time-consuming if something happens outside of the service user’s routine. What if Auntie Doris didn’t feel like breakfast this morning? For a paper-based company, this would entail making a scribbled note on Doris’s record, not to mention individual phone calls to inform management, family and the carer due to come in the afternoon. Not for Care24Seven. Our carer will simply update Doris’s online record, accessible to family, management and carers, all of whom will receive instant SMS notification of the update.

Communication between carer and management in paper-based care companies is commonly conducted by filling in a service user’s medication administration record (MAR) sheet. These are generally posted in the office for inspection weekly, sometimes even monthly — but this isn’t much good if Grandpa Jack hasn’t been eating breakfast for weeks and this information wasn’t passed on. Unsurprisingly, Care24Seven has all but done away with this way of working. Our live system means Grandpa Jack can continue to not break his fast if he so chooses — but family, management and any other relevant carers will be notified immediately.

Even more crucially, let’s say Uncle Jim outright refused to take his heart medication this afternoon, despite knowing how important it is. As soon as the carer updates Uncle Jim’s online record of this, every relevant party will be immediately aware of the situation and can act accordingly. This up-to-the-minute communication system puts Care24Seven simply head and shoulders above other care companies.

Better, more secure record-keeping

Our new and improved live system needed sophisticated record-keeping security to match. Once again, Care24Seven are simply leagues ahead of any other care company.

Home care involves allowing trusted parties to be privy to personal details. Some family members or service users might worry that our live system on a carer’s mobile phone could be vulnerable to confidentiality issues. However, the geolocation tracking application on each carer’s phone registers when they arrive at the service user’s home — and only then can they access the person’s online records. Then as soon as the geolocation registers that the carer has departed the premises, the system automatically locks down!

The live system does, of course, require an Internet connection — but Grandma Margaret has forgotten where she put the WiFi passcode, and there’s no signal for phone data. No problem! The system can still be accessed and updated offline, with changes to the records implemented as soon as the carer reconnects to the Internet. And what if the phone is lost, or stolen? No worries. The Care24Seven management team can have the system of confidential records wiped remotely from the phone in a matter of minutes!

24Seven by name, 24/7 by nature

‘Care24Seven’ is more than just snappy branding (although we’re pretty proud of it!) — it refers to the extent of the service we provide. You can call Care24Seven any time, day or night, seven days a week. You will always speak to a real person, not just an automated voicemail or a robot. If the coordinator on the other end happens to already be on a call, they’ll be notified automatically that you got in touch and ring you straight back!

There is a wide variety of reasons a concerned family member or loved one might be wanting to speak to us urgently about a service user. Let’s say Grandpa Jack is back on track with breakfast, but he seems to have had an overall decline in his general health and he’s struggling to get about the house like he used to. Our advanced tech system and 24/7 hotline mean you can request a ‘step up’ in the care he receives — with immediate effect.

Conversely, perhaps Uncle Jimmy is once again taking his heart medication and is making remarkable progress. He’s even up and out of bed and cooking! You can call us 24/7 and request a ‘step down’ in service from the very next day. Even more urgently, what if you call by Auntie Doris’s house and she’s not answering the door — or she’s not in at all? You can simply call our 24/7 hotline and find out exactly which carer last saw her and when.

We even have new clients calling us requesting care as soon as possible for their loved one. Being a company that never sleeps, we can usually organise care for the very next day.

The short contracts (even just a single 48-hour contract!) offered by Care24Seven truly highlight the human element behind our ethos and care ethic. We never charge clients for more care than is actually needed. We are committed to and passionate about delivering only the highest-quality service to every service user, as well as keeping family entirely up to date with the health and wellbeing of their loved one — day or night.

The future of home care

Care24Seven is consistently ahead of the curve.

With over one million hours of home care under our belt and an incredible management team, whose backgrounds range from pharmaceuticals to business and with over fifty years’ care experience between them, Care24Seven’s expertise, professionalism and humanity have always set us apart as one of the UK’s top care companies. Our recent foray into being fully tech-enabled, however, has surely pushed us to number one spot.

The technological complexity at the core of Care24Seven’s infrastructure actually makes us the simplest, most straightforward care company to work with by some distance. By cutting out unnecessary time spent on endless forms and paperwork-based processes, we have optimised the administrative process, giving our carers much more time to provide high-quality, personable service to every service user and get to know every one of them as an individual.

Our incredibly efficient and effective live system, which enables instant communication between service users, carers, family and management means every relevant party is always and immediately aware of any change to the health and wellbeing of the service user. With every party able to be in constant contact with one another, no service user is ever left without the quality care they expect and deserve.

Care24Seven has already made huge strides in the care industry, but this is only the beginning. In the next few years, we will implement an online self-management service, in which clients will easily select their loved one’s carer, book in care appointments and keep abreast of updates. It will be an optimised, coherent and client-friendly system unlike any other — and, by cutting out the middle man, will lead to more affordable but even higher-quality care.

Exceptional home care for your loved one

Care24Seven offer home care of only the highest quality in the entire of the South East of England, with compassion and humanity like no other care company operating in the UK today. Get in touch today and find out the wide range of care options we can provide for your loved one — starting the very next day!