CQC to focus on how to harness new technology
A CQC report published at the end of April 2017 highlights the need for care organisations to harness the power of technology in order to improve outcomes for people in their care.
In “Celebrating Good Care, Championing Outstanding Care”, the report’s authors showcase a number of outstanding organisations in the care sector. The report says: “Some care providers do things well through innovative new ways of working, or by doing the basics well. Others can learn from them and solutions should be shared across the system.”
One of the main areas of innovation identified by CQC is technology. According to the report: “New technology is influencing the way health and care services are delivered – and it is transforming care for some people. This change inevitably presents challenges for the way we approach regulation for new kinds of services; in future, we will also focus on examples that show where providers are successfully harnessing new technology to improve outcomes for people.”
The report echoes the comments of Andrea Sutcliffe, chief inspector of Adult Social Care at the Care Quality Commission, who is on record as encouraging care providers to embrace innovative digital technologies that enhance care delivery, achieve effective care outcomes.
One example of where care providers have used technology to do improve care outcomes is by using an app – accessible via any tablet or smartphone – to complete Medical Administration Record sheets (MARs).
The technology, produced by software providers Electronic Mar (emar), saves time, reduces error rates, empowers staff, ensures that medicines are re-ordered at the right time, provides alerts for missed doses, provides a fully CQC-compliant methodology for reporting and auditing, and completely removes the need to fill in, sign and store cumbersome paper records.
In developing the product Electronic Mar identified that in the care sector in the UK 1.2 million paper MAR sheets are filled in every day. 15 million hours are spent auditing this paperwork each year and 4.8 million recording errors occur. Each error is estimated to cost the care provider between £170 and £550 – and of course at worst a patient may suffer serious health implications or die.
Please visit www.electronicmar.co.uk for details of how to join the webinar or contact Chris on – chris.gledhill@electronicmar.co.uk or call 07971 064 245 – for further information.