Adam Daniels of Intercall believes that when procuring technology for care homes, it takes more than a great product or a professional team of installers. Rather, it is a three-way collaboration between the care home, the technology, and the specifier or installation team.
The use of well-chosen technology can enhance care in a modern residential setting. On a day-to-day basis, it can improve communication between caregivers and residents, enhancing safety and supporting the independence of the resident. It can also help improve efficiency with reporting and record-keeping, and aid informed decision-making.
With the care sector facing increasing demands, costs, and accountability, working in collaboration with installers and care home managers to ensure their systems integrate into existing infrastructures is crucial to the success of any project. Speaking to both groups has highlighted the value that each party brings to the collaboration.
Intercall nurse call systems have been developed in conjunction with healthcare professionals and can be found in residential care settings all over the country. As product manufacturers, working in partnership and collaboration with trusted installers is key to delivering the right system to the right environment. Teaming up with established partners Safety Systems Distribution Ltd and Saturn Sales & Services Ltd, the Intercall One, Touch, and Safeguard for Dementia systems are being specified, installed, and integrated into existing care home software and systems on a daily basis.
From Intercall’s perspective, every project begins from a place of real understanding. Our nurse call ranges have been developed in conjunction with healthcare professionals through listening to their needs and understanding their pinch points. It is a metaphorical baton that is passed through our partner distributors and installers and onto care providers, completing a circle of collaboration.
Recent projects
When Hampshire County Council decided to undertake a huge project to replace the existing call systems across all their council-run care homes, they turned to Intercall partners Saturn Sales & Services Ltd. Working closely with Saturn, the Intercall Touch System was installed initially as a trial at Fleming House, before being rolled out in all 24 of their homes, each ranging from 35 to 100 beds. Call points and digital displays were installed throughout the homes, with staff Care Cards commissioned to register and monitor staff attendance, thereby improving security and accountability. Since the initial installation, Hampshire CC has commissioned a series ofadditional services, including the integration of the Care Cards with customised drug cabinets. All openings and closings of the cabinets are recorded within the nurse call datalog, creating an accurate record of time and personnel access. Furthermore, this has the added benefit of being able to store individual residents’ medication within the medical safe in their bedroom, thereby ensuring 100 per cent accuracy when administering medication.
Another addition has been the installation of Safeguard monitors to assist with the care ofresidents with dementia. Safeguard sensors monitor bed occupancy, alerting staff to out of bed movements, and automatically switching on a bedroom light giving peace of mind to the families of residents prone to falling or wandering at night.
The Touch system automatically collects and stores the data of thousands of daily actions on the nurse call system, providing invaluable insight for care managers, while exceeding any CQC recommendations. Hampshire CC is working closely with Saturn and Intercall to further develop the call logging, including moving to the Intercall cloud-based system, which will enable senior management to glean ever greater levels of information, spot trends, and review performance in more detail than ever before.
No installation or upgrade is without its challenges. Safety Systems Distribution Ltd were commissioned by Sheffcare to upgrade the existing nurse call systems. Cost budgets and the need for an efficient, straight-forward installation with minimal disruption to the day-to-day running of the home headed the list of Sheffcare’s considerations. Intercall One was selected as the perfect fit; its installation bringing standardisation to the homes, as well as reduced ongoing maintenance bills. Safety Systems integrated Intercall One with their Android handsets to deliver nurse call alerts directly to mobile staff, as well as linking it to Sheffcare’s in house digital care systems. None of this could have been achieved without all parties working together and everyone playing their part to ensure the best outcome for residents and staff. Delighted with the new system and the integration work, John Dawson of Sheffcare told us: “This project could not have gone better. Working with Safety Systems and Intercall has created a partnership based on trust and an ongoing project delivered by companies who are in it for the long term.”
Exemplary technical support
The Intercall technical support team are always on hand to assist and advise both installation partners and the care home management team, collaborating with all parties to tailor each system for the needs and demands of the individual care facilities. When Exemplar Health Care developed five new care homes in Bradford, Hull, Birmingham, Wallasey, and South Elmsall, they naturally looked to Safety Systems, with whom they had an established relationship, to design, supply and commission the call systems for all five sites. The Touch Nurse Call System was chosen for its adaptability and flexibility as the most programmable system from Intercall. As a provider of complex care for working-age adults, it is important that technology is as non-intrusive as possible to support independence, something particularly true of the Safeguard sensor solution. Safety Systems worked tirelessly to ensure that the Touch system integrated seamlessly with the company’s IT infrastructure and have been on hand to assist with staff training and support.
Speaking of the Intercall system, Helen Lawson of Exemplar Health Care told us: “The system offers exceptional flexibility, allowing us to adapt and integrate various elements as required in each home, particularly its range of wireless wearables. One of the biggest advantages has been the seamless integration with other technologies, including eye gaze technology, which promotes greater independence for the people we support. Additionally, the Intercall system continuously evolves with technological advancements. For example, in our new Barnsley care home, we’re piloting a silent alarm system integrated with our care planning system, Nourish. We’re also trialling new thermal imaging technology, which will integrate with Intercall, further enhancing responsive care. From a management perspective, the ability to access call log reports helps us monitor system usage and ensure efficient response times from our teams.”
In an increasingly fractured world, building relationships with like-minded partners has never been more important or valuable to growing and sustaining your business, especially in a sector built on care and trust. An opinion echoed by Stuart Robson from Safety Systems, who told us: “We have good relationships with all the staff at Intercall. It’s safe to say that the values that drew our businesses together many years ago still hold true for the relationship today.” While Dave Wallis, managing director at Saturn told us: “It’s a partnership built on trust, which has stood the test of time. There has been consistency and lineage running through both companies, ever since the relationship was established 32 years ago by Roger Lee and myself, and latterly John Mole. We partnered with Intercall in the early 1990s and never looked at any other system from there. It’s a great product and does what it says on the tin!”
The depth of trust built over time and experience is not just felt between Intercall and its installation partners; it is a sentiment shared with care home managers. Saturn Sales & Services Ltd has worked with Cedar Care homes over a number of years, during which time they have installed and integrated Intercall systems, including both Touch and the 600 & 700 series, with staff mobile phones, allowing the facility to operate the nurse call system in ‘silent running’ mode thereby avoiding unnecessary alarms sounding across the home. The nurse call displays only sound on the staff emergency level, avoiding disruption and potential agitation of the residents.
Ash Desai, managing director and founder of Bristol-based Cedar Care Ltd, told us: “We have been using Saturn to provide our nurse call needs within 16 of our care homes over a 20-year period using the Intercall range. The last three refurbishments using the latest Touch system. We find that the system has proved its durability and reliability over time which has avoided unnecessary expense for us at Cedar Care and gives our staff, our residents, and their families security of mind.”
Trust and collaboration are key
In the person-centred care sector, a one-size fits all approach to technology no longer cuts it with care managers looking for technology to enhance their systems, to increase security, traceability, and transparency-all while helping staff and residents feel seen and supported. Increasingly, the ‘secret sauce’ for procuring technology for care homes is not simply a great product or a professional team of installers. Rather, it is a blend of a trust, collaboration, and integration between the care home, the technology, and the specifier or installation team. It is about listening, developing, and working together for the best possible – often bespoke -outcome. No two care homes are the same, and therefore it follows that no two installations are the same.
