domiciliary care

Mar

2021

Sleep-in shifts: No longer a nightmare

Last week’s Supreme Court ruling that employers are only required to pay night-time carers minimum wage rates for the hours that they are active, rather than the entirety of a sleep-in shift, will doubtless have caused a big sigh of relief in the care sector – not least because it has removed the prospect of huge back payments.

Calculating carers’ sleep-in pay just got more complicated

The subject of sleep-in pay has been ping-ponging around the courts since 2014. But although an overarching principle has finally been established, the devil is always in the detail – and employers are still left with a range of complicated options when it comes to paying carers for sleep-ins.

Rota software that handles the difficult calculations for you

Through long experience with clients in the supported living and residential care sectors, easyLog has developed functionally-rich rota software that takes the hard work out of paying staff at both single and hourly payment rates, even within an individual overnight shift.

The software supports pay schemes where carers are paid at different rates for working with more challenging service users and for working in more remote locations. And it’s all instantly calculated, clearly presented and exportable into a wide range of third party payroll software products, such as Sage and Xero.

Find out more

Please contact us if you'd like more information on easyLog's software for care providers or visit our dedicated web pages for supported living and care home operators.

Feb

2020

The new mobile-friendly easyLog website is now live

Previous visitors to the easyLog website may have noticed that over the past few months things have started to change. We have given our sites a bright, modern new look and made them more accessible – particularly on mobile devices. The last section, the core home pages, have now gone live.

We have kept all the key product sections – staff scheduling and web-based software, clocking and staff attendance, cleaning management, care home software and domiciliary care – but have added a new section for supported living providers. These have all been given their own sub-domains so they are distinct from each other but still integrated into the main site network. We also have pages showcasing videos and case studies and, of course, information about the company and how to contact us.

Please take a look around and feel free to get in touch by email or phone if you would like to know more about any of our products.

May

2018

GDPR and your data

As you will be aware, a new law governing personal data comes into force on 25 May 2018 – the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). The legislation is designed to give individuals greater control over how their information is used and ensure that companies take adequate steps to store it safely.

Under the terms of GDPR, easyLog is a Processor, which means that we hold and manage personal data provided by Controllers (our customers) in order to do our work. Some of this data is sensitive, in that it can include medical and employment records, financial information and other personal details.

What we are doing to protect your data

easyLog has taken steps to ensure that our already robust data protection measures have been fully assessed and, where necessary, updated in line with GDPR requirements. For example, we have introduced encryption and two-stage password protection where appropriate and deleted obsolete data records.

At the same time, we have developed a new data protection policy, which is now available on our website. We have also been contacting existing customers by e-mail to request that they opt in to our online products, such as cloud services and remote support, in accordance with GDPR requirements. If you have not already heard from us, you will soon.

Helping you understand the impact of GDPR

We take our responsibilities under the new GDPR legislation seriously. Our updated privacy policy is written in clear and simple English to help you understand how the new law impacts the data that we may hold about and on behalf of our customers and also on any organisation that is thinking about becoming an easyLog customer.

Find out more

For more information, please read our updated privacy policy or contact us if you have any questions.

Jun

2017

Developing the most App-ropriate software tools for your business

Whatever industry you are in or service your provide, you are probably finding that smartphones and tablets are increasingly finding their way into your working life – and are becoming just as indispensable as they are for social and leisure activities. The numbers speak for themselves.

Back in 2010, just a fifth of UK mobile phone users had a smartphone, according to eMarketer. Today, that figure is around 80 per cent. The trajectory of tablets has been even more rapid, with more than half of the adult population using one regularly by 2015 – up from a third in two years.

Harnessing the popularity of smartphones and tablets

Although it’s impossible to predict the future of emerging technology trends, we could see early on that mobile devices were going to have a major impact on the management of everyday tasks – and so easyLog began developing convenient app versions of key products from the start.

Initially we focused on apps for Android devices to keep costs down for customers. But as more people began using Apple and Windows devices, we have been able to offer more apps for iOS and Windows Mobile – such as our highly successful multi-location geolocation and QR code staff clocking app, Locate and Clock.

The popularity of these time-saving and simple-to-use apps has inspired easyLog developers to create smartphone and/or tablet versions of several of our other flagship products and increase the functionality available of apps already in the marketplace.

Expanding our app functionality and product range

The Care Logger smartphone app, for example, which is designed for domiciliary care staff, will soon be released with the option for carers to view their rotas, clock-in and view call information. Meanwhile, managers will be able to use the same app to schedule and reschedule calls.

We also have a remote clocking app in the pipeline that is appropriate for a wide range of business sectors. As always we are guided by making routine and complex tasks as quick and easy to perform for everyone involved, saving employers time and money. The move to mobile has really been something of a revolution for us and our customers and we don’t see any sign of it slowing down yet.

For more information on easyLog’s extensive range of products and latest apps, check our website or speak to one of our team.

Feb

2017

Meeting the demands of multiple charge rates

With cash-strapped councils scrutinising ways to save money, care contract negotiations have become an even greater battleground where, among other things, service providers are being pushed to be more flexible in their charge structures. That means implementing multiple charging bands, which in turn means increasingly complex invoice calculations for managers – and more headaches.

To meet the financial demands of the care commissioners, evidence suggests care providers are being asked to accept a number of different charge rates for bands of hours in the day or group of days during the week over which they are providing care services. This means they can find themselves applying multiple rates for morning, afternoon and night care provision and, in some cases, additional rates for Saturday and Sunday.

The result is an administrative nightmare, with potential for miscalculations, loss of revenue and delayed payments affecting cash flow – unless you have suitable software in place.

Multiple charge rates are dealt with in seconds

For less than the cost of a tank of petrol a month, easyLog’s Home Care Studio software takes the hard labour out of your service’s admin and record keeping. Multiple charge rates can be defined and applied in seconds, along with multiple pay rates per employee if required. So you can be confident that funder invoices together with payroll are calculated accurately and efficiently.

And with other functionality including care planning and risk assessments records, personnel management incorporating comprehensive training and supervisions facilities and a variety of electronic visit recording options, there’s never been a more relevant time to explore what easyLog could offer your business.

To find out more about our specialist software for community care providers, visit our dedicated domiciliary care website or request a callback from one of our team.

Oct

2016

10 ways Home Care Studio can make work – and life – simpler

When you’re choosing a home care system, the chances are you’ll have a long list of boxes that need to be ticked. But we know from talking to our customers that often it’s the less obvious features that prove most valuable in terms of saving time and making delivering quality care that little bit easier.

The following functions of our Home Care Studio software may not be top of your checklist – but we think that once you’ve tried them you’ll wonder how you ever managed without them.

Reviewing care plans on the move – on a phone

Our Care-Logger app enables carers to carry out evaluations and assessments as well as view care plans and tasks associated with client visits wherever they are via their smartphone – even when there is no internet connection. It can also be used to view and manage rotas and as a clocking device for ultimate flexibility and convenience.

Set an ideal rota

We know most providers like to send a familiar carer face to their service users – and that most carers want some certainty over their rota. So that’s where the ideal rota comes in. A powerful and flexible function that allows you to define carers’ regular visit routes and then use this as the basis for the weekly rota.

Log client visits by mobile phone

When time is money, an accurate and cost-effective visit tracking system is essential. One that is proving particularly popular with our home care customers is visit logging by smartphone. Using QR codes (smart barcodes), NFC tags or GPS global positioning technology, all are simple to use, highly efficient and surprisingly inexpensive.

Update records on the go

With our specially-designed care-Logger app, carers can make visit notes directly into client records using their phones – no uploading or transcribing required. And to save even more time and bother, you can easily set up existing assessments in Home Care Studio.

It’s not just about home care…

Our Home Care Studio software has flexibility built in – which means it’s equally suitable for supported living and agency care providers. This is particularly useful for customers who have multi-faceted care businesses.

Personalise your invoices

You can customise your company invoicing by adding your own logo and adjusting the layout, creating a consistent, professional look and feel across your paperwork.

Easy access to policies and procedures

Our policies and procedures section means staff can quickly and easily find important information when they need it, saving time and helping to ensure best practice is adhered to at all times.

CM2000 interface

Because we know that, in the real world, larger care organisations especially use a variety of management tools, we have made our software compatible with other leading providers, such as Care Management 2000 for smooth transitions between systems.

Client contributions made easy

Our invoicing section takes into account different payment structures, including client contributions, saving time and reducing billing-related headaches.

Reports with everything

Whatever kind of report you want and however you want it presented, you’ve got it. You can even access a mileage report from Google Maps if you want.

If you want to know more about our software for care providers or any of the points above, request a callback from one of our team or contact us by phone or e-mail.

Jul

2016

Five ways to stop fraudsters getting hold of your data

Technology is not just good for legitimate businesses – it’s also constantly providing criminals with new ways to commit fraud. One of the latest is ransomware, whereby hackers use malware to encrypt files stored on servers and then demand payment to restore the data – usually in the form of untraceable Bitcoins.

Sorting out the resulting mess takes a lot of time and effort and can be extremely stressful. These five simple steps will help you to keep your servers secure.

1 Be password savvy

Hackers target the weakest point of a server’s security, which is often the password. So choose only strong passwords – ideally containing a mix of upper and lower-case letters and numbers – that are not easily discovered and that you don’t use elsewhere. Change them regularly and remember to disable unwanted user accounts, for example when an employee leaves.

2 Back up regularly

We know it can be a chore but it’s essential to back up all your data securely and at regular intervals. Set up automated back-ups to run daily, sending data to a different physical location.

3 Don’t neglect your upgrades

However busy you are, make sure you find time to install all the recommended upgrades and patches for your server so the security is always up to date.

4 Switch off when you’re done

Always switch off remote desktop access (RDP). If you need this type of access set your firewall to allow only users from specific IP addresses.

5 Protect your dashboard

Have a separate password for your server dashboard and keep it extra safe. The server dashboard allows complete access to your server so you need to be extra careful.

For further advice on server security, please contact the easyLog team.

Jul

2016

Reduce the impact of Brexit on your care home

The Prime Minister has said that Brexit means Brexit – but we are still a long way from knowing how leaving the EU will play out. For businesses in the care sector, such as individual care homes and groups, there are particular areas of concern. These are a few of the challenges the industry is set to face.

Falling house prices

UK property prices have fallen by almost one per cent – or £2,467 – in the month since the referendum, according to Rightmove. And this is normally the most buoyant time of year. It may not sound much but with uncertainty over what Brexit will actually mean likely to continue for at least a couple of years, there is going to be less money available to clients who fund care by selling their home.

Recruitment issues

It seems inevitable that some kind of restriction is going to be imposed on the movement of workers from Europe – and beyond, if an Australian-style points system is adopted. Such a system “is unlikely to be favourable to relatively low-skilled workers in the care sector,” according to former Health Secretary Andrew Lansley (now Lord Lansley), who has urged the industry to make sure its voice is heard in the coming negotiations.

Higher staff turnover

Changing attitudes to immigration may mean that many care workers either choose or are required to leave their jobs in the UK. This will exacerbate an already difficult human resources issue for care providers struggling to maintain a low turnover of staff.

Prospect of recession

We know that the initial stage of Britain’s exit from the EU will take at least two years – the time limit for enacting Article 50. Although we will learn more about the implications over time, uncertainty over the details and economic impact will cause many businesses to put their growth plans on hold – temporarily at least – potentially triggering recession.

What can care homes do to prepare?

There are no easy answers but clearly it is a time to ensure your resources are managed as effectively as possible. This means making the best use of all the features of your care home management system, from staff scheduling and rota management to efficient record keeping and payroll analysis.

For individual advice on getting the most out of your easyLog system, please contact one of our team – we will be happy to help.

Jun

2016

Are you and your staff ready for Brexit?

If there’s one thing we can be sure about following the Brexit vote, it is uncertainty. None of us knows for sure what the coming months and years will bring, despite all the claims and counter claims. But when it comes to the European working time directive, it seems fair to say there will be no change soon because the UK already has an opt-out of the 48-hour week.

While this means there is no urgent need to rethink your staff scheduling system, it’s a good time to make sure you are prepared for any changes when they do come.

Having the right staff management system in place will help you ensure you have the optimum number of staff on your rota to keep your business running smoothly while controlling contracted hours, so you can keep costs down and service levels up.

Add to that the benefit of detailed budgeting, invoicing and payroll reports that can be tailored to your needs and you have all you need to keep a check on your staffing expenditure.

With an easyLog system, you also get a range of extra management tools that help streamline virtually all aspects of staffing, from training to HR and personal record keeping.

Visit our website to find out more.

Jun

2016

Cloud options for every hosting scenario and budget

At easyLog, one of our defining principles is to help our customers benefit from the latest technology, whatever their size and way of working. As a result of a number of industry developments, including a significant reduction in the price of cloud server options and an increase in broadband speeds nationally, we are now pleased to be able to offer an expanded range of cloud-based facilities.

This means we have options to suit every type of hosting and server set-up and can provide high quality cloud services for almost every budget – in keeping with our principles.

Broadly, there are three main hosting models:

We can install easyLog software on your self- or externally-managed cloud server
We can manage your easyLog software and related functions on your cloud server
We can provide a full hosting and management service through our own servers

To discuss the different options and their relative benefits to your organisation, please contact one of our team or request a callback.

Feb

2016

How to keep your home care staff happy by giving them the shifts they want – and you need

If you run a care agency, planning the rota is probably one of your least favourite jobs – it’s complicated, time consuming and often impossible to please every member of staff, no matter how hard you try. But creating an efficient and cost-effective staff rota does not have to be a headache-inducing chore.

easyLog’s home care software has been designed specially to help you plan a rota with your staff in mind. Our advanced rota facilities can ensure that staff are given adequate hours while guaranteeing that work is allocated in employee-friendly blocks. You can use the software to make sure that carers are not called back for a short evening shift after a long morning session, for instance, or even choose to avoid split shifts altogether.

And if you need to make last minute changes to the rota or schedule extra shifts for those that want them, that’s not a problem either. Our smartphone-based care and rota software provides up-to-date information ensuring all the information you need is always to hand, wherever and whenever you need it. Plus it has the advantage of keeping paperwork to a minimum.

Find out more about our rota management software by talking to one of our team.

Jan

2016

Set your rota for the new living wage

It’s not long until April and the introduction of the National Living Wage, when virtually all employees aged 25 and over will be entitled to at least £7.20 per hour. For employers working to a tight budget, that means either gritting your teeth and upping the wages bill or juggling your rotas to keep staffing costs down.

Whichever you choose, controlling wage costs by selecting the right staff for the most appropriate job function has never been more important – and neither has having flexible and efficient rota management software.

easyLog’s scheduling system can take the hard work out of organising your rota with a helpful budgeting facility. This enables you to set your rota quickly and easily by filtering workers via factors that determine their rate of pay, such as training, qualifications and seniority.

You can read more about setting a rota to a budget with our staff scheduling software in our flexible working hours case study.

The government recommends taking these four steps to ensure you are ready for the National Living Wage:

Know who is eligible in your organisation
Make the appropriate payroll adjustments
Let staff know about their new pay rate as soon as possible
Check that staff under 25 are earning right minimum wage

Find out more about preparing for the National Living Wage at gov.uk.

Nov

2015

Get ready for the new 30 minute home care visit

With new guidelines recommending that home care visits to the elderly should last a minimum of 30 minutes, it’s more important than ever to have a simple and dependable staff clocking system and effective rota management software.

The guidance, developed by the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE), does allow for shorter visits but only if they are not the main visit of the day – for example, a follow up to check if a client has taken medicine. It also includes taking steps to ensure that clients know their carers by trying to use the same ones whenever possible and letting clients know in advance if their carers are likely to be late or not turn up.

To find out more about our wide range of attendance monitoring and staff scheduling systems and how they can help you meet the demands of this new gold standard for home care, visit our web pages using these links or contact us for further information.

Nov

2015

Is recruiting more men the answer to the care time-bomb?

Britain’s growing demand for carers has been called a workforce time-bomb – and industry experts have suggested that one of the best ways of diffusing it is to recruit more men.

Currently more than 80 per cent of carers – four in every five – are women and just 16 per cent are men. This figure has remained static since 2012, despite an increasing number of men needing care into old age.

“When it comes to personal care in particular, some men prefer this to be done by a male rather than female,” says Professor Martin Green, chief executive of Care England.

But men are often prevented from becoming professional carers by entrenched perceptions, he adds.

“The problem is people always see caring roles as being female roles. We need to make society understand that everyone has the potential to be carer.”

A recent report by the International Longevity Centre UK and care charity Anchor predicts that one million new care roles will be needed by 2025 to meet rising demand and currently unmet need. Over the same period, the number of people of working age is expected to rise by just 2.5 million.

Oct

2015

View and save our care and attendance products on Pinterest

easyLog is now on Pinterest, so you can browse a selection of our care management products and time and attendance devices then pin your favourites to your own boards and share them with colleagues. You can also follow us so you will be the first to see new additions to our boards.

We currently have three boards:

To find out more, click on the links above or visit our Pinterest home page: www.pinterest.com/easylogltd/

Sep

2015

Smartphone clocking app offers more location data options

easyLog will shortly release a new multi-platform clocking app with a variety of data location options – making staff attendance monitoring with a smartphone more versatile than ever and suitable for an even wider range of employers.

The app uses a location services library, which means it can access data from a number of location-identifying sources. When employees clocks in – or out – with a smartphone, the location of the device can be obtained from any of the following, if available:

GPS
Network IP address location
Wifi address location
GSM network IDs

Location info will be logged along with date, time and device ID, along with any optional employee and client details selected.

Data can be sent to the chosen server immediately or held for subsequent download. Following download, a server timestamp will be added to the data and, if required, the location can be confirmed by postcode or address, or checked against existing client locations.

Our new app will supersede the existing Android-only location app.

For more information, contact the easyLog team.

Jul

2015

Look to the cloud if you want to share care and rota management software across different locations

Employers looking for simple but versatile rota or care management software that can be used across multiple locations should consider easyLog’s latest range of cloud server-based options.

Designed to let users make connections to other sites via the internet more easily without the investment of a big IT infrastructure, these options use Windows Remote Desktop Services to distribute our care-Log+ care home system, Home Care Studio supported living solution and e-Log rota management software as remote applications.

Active Directory integration is also available for customers wanting to run easyLog products on existing Windows cloud hosting packages.

Benefits of switching to cloud-based systems include:

Small IT infrastructure required
Easy to share data and applications across several sites
Suits people working in different locations

Our cloud server-based options are available alongside web browser based applications and handheld apps to give a comprehensive range of solutions for people who need to work on the move.

Demonstrations and prices for all these options are available on request.

Jun

2015

Staffing supported living services more efficiently with an electronic rota

Providing supported living services efficiently and cost-effectively requires meticulous staff management – especially when it comes to organising the rota. So it’s not surprising that the care provider featured in our latest case study, St Joseph’s Services, found fulfilling its complex range of services using a paper-based rota system time-consuming and unwieldy.

As business and support manager Eddy McGregor explains, the limitations of the staff rota system also affected the coverage the organisation was able to provide.

“The paper-based rota was time consuming to prepare, inflexible and did not provide sufficient detail to ensure effective coverage of contracts,” he says. “It was clearly an area where we could make improvements by using new technologies.”

Flexibility to deal with different care models

After looking at a number of electronic rota systems, St Joseph’s settled on easyLog’s e-Log software – because it offered the flexibility to function across both community care services and the care home sector. Eddy decided to pilot the rota management software in one of the organisation’s most complex service areas, Housing Support, which encompasses the two elements involved in all its other services – 24-hour support in one location and mixed support at various locations.

The new rota system was a success from the start. As well as being easy to set up and use, it has helped St Joseph’s cut costs, allocate staff more efficiently and improve record keeping.

“e-Log has enabled us to allocate staff to individual clients more effectively, allowing us to fulfil contracts, eliminate dead time, reduce overtime and costs, and report accurately and in good time to our funders,” Eddy concludes. “We are now working to roll out the system across the whole of St Joseph’s.”

Using the easyLog electronic rota software

Mar

2015

Dementia Care Mapping software now a standard assessment tool in care-Log+

Dementia Care Mapping graph observations

DCM graph showing assessments over a period of time

easyLog’s market leading care-Log+ care home and supported living management software now includes the University of Bradford’s Dementia Care Mapping as one of its standard assessment tools. And, implemented on tablet PCs, it becomes a very powerful, convenient and easy to use platform for recording the results of Dementia Care Mapping observations.

Dementia Mapping seeks to record what everyday life is like for a person with dementia. It was developed by the University of Bradford’s School of Dementia Studies in the early 1990s. easyLog’s implementation of Bradford Dementia Mapping software on tablet PCs means that carers (or Mappers as they are known during observation sessions) have a simple and portable touch-screen platform on which to record their observations.

Our Dementia Care Mapping software presents the carer with a list of service users from which they select the residents they are about to observe and the length of time of the assessment. The tablet PC then displays a timeline for each service user broken down by defined period – for example five or ten minute blocks. Dementia Mapping then occurs by the carer selecting a Behaviour Category and the ME (Mood/Engagement value) score occurring at that moment. Several observations can be recorded at any point as different behaviours occur with the option to also add relevant comments.

The Dementia Care Mapping observations are automatically collated and presented in both numerical and graphical form across a range of dates or for a specific day. The Dementia Care Mapping software graphs can be displayed in line graph and bar chart format with optional selection of specific Behaviour Categories and ME values.

Dementia care is an increasing element of many of easyLog clients’ care services. And, according to statistics published in The Lancet in December 2014 (Global Burden of Disease Study 2013), the need for dementia care is only set to rise. The report is an in-depth look at changing patterns of 240 separate causes of death worldwide in 188 countries during the 23 years between 1990 and 2013 and highlights dementia as now being the third largest cause of death (source: http://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(14)61682-2/abstract).

Observations recorded on a graph using DCM

Feb

2015

New web pages for community-based care providers

As you may know we recently gave our specialist product for domiciliary care and supported living providers, Home Care Studio, an overhaul – and now we have completed a revamp of our web pages for community-based care customers to match.

We have divided the section into two parts for simplicity, covering the Home Care Studio software and visit recording hardware options.

The Home Care Studio pages detail the six main features of the system: client records and care plans, rostering, payroll and invoicing, staff records and training, the easyLog care-Logger app and risk assessments. Each description includes sample screen images that can be expanded to full size with a click of a mouse so you can see how it all looks for yourself.

The visit recording pages cover three options popular with our domiciliary care and supported living customers: mobile phone and tablet-based devices, SIM-based devices and our range of specialist terminals for mobile workers.

You can find out more about our software and hardware products for community-based care providers by checking out our web pages or discussing the options with one of our team.

Jan

2015

Work even more efficiently with new Home Care Studio

Community care and supported living providers should take note that we have given our specialist home care software a makeover so it’s now even more effective if you have smaller numbers of service users. We have also given it a new name – Home Care Studio

The areas we have upgraded are:

Rotas – we have made it easier to find staff to fulfil contracts by providing multiple rota views to meet a range of circumstances
Risk assessment screens – these now feature improved scorecards so you can add more details
Care screens – we have included social care and person-centred care planning to give a better all round picture of the service user as an individual
Reporting – this now offers the option of printing out care documents in part or full for greater flexibility
Ease of use – we have improved functionality for handheld devices, such as smartphones and tablets, so it’s easier to make initial assessments, log service user information, clock in and out and check rota information on the move

If you want to know more about how Home Care Studio can help you save time and provide higher standards of care, visit our supported living web pages or contact us.

Flexibility to deal with different care models

Phone us now on 01892 834406 or request a callback