A week in the life of a care home Quality and Compliance Manager – using digital in Social Care part 3

My first 2 blogs outlined my professional background and how I ended in my current role, as well as showcasing what the start of my week is usually like. Keep reading to see how a week typically ends for me in my varied role.

Wednesday

Today is a digital day and I start with a call relating to an awards submission, giving a short demonstration of the online maintenance system that I built using Microsoft 365 lists. I really do like the Microsoft platform and apps. Their flexibility has enabled us to build a bespoke governance system without the need for extra cost and interoperability issues. Anyway, that's enough of the unpaid advert for Microsoft 365!

Next on the to-do list is adding new starters onto our online policy system. After sending a raft of emails with usernames and passwords, I take a quick break for a warming bowl of soup.

Now refuelled and energised, I hop on to a Teams meeting to give a demonstration of our online governance system to a charity-based social care provider. Presentations always make me feel nervous, although I know what we have is excellent and certainly gives us the information we need to enrich our residents' lives, as well as ease staff workload.

The presentation went well, and it seems that I have volunteered myself to help and support them in the build of their own bespoke governance system. I really am a glutton for punishment! I do, however, secretly enjoy it. Sharing best practice with the aim of supporting more people to implement their own system is extremely rewarding and, of course, incredibly useful for them.

It is now almost the end of the day. I've just got a few email checks to do, help co-ordinate the onboarding of more homes to use the digital call bell alter system then it's time to pack up and rest.

Thursday

I start the day by checking the power BI graphs and looking for areas of risk to the homes and, therefore, residents. Thankfully, I don't find anything today.

Next up is a Teams meeting with a provider reference group to discuss future policy and government changes that may impact care and practices in the future. Two hours later, after a very interesting session, I’ve now got a bit of space to consider how we will implement these changes and achieve the best results with the least disruption for staff and residents.

After a light lunch I’m on the road again, this time to visit another home and set up their hand-held devices with new apps to enable the use of remote call bell monitoring and staff messaging. First, however, I need to change the home’s Wi-Fi so that the devices talk to a secure designated network. How is this nursing, I hear you say… Well, without all these digital tools we would not be able to deliver the standard of care our residents have come to expect. We wouldn’t have the best oversight and governance, we wouldn’t be so swift in detecting risk and putting in mitigating factors to reduce the risk.

Friday

What a busy and varied week it has been! Fridays are my catch-up day. I attend to any outstanding work, answer emails, write blogs and catch up with the homes.

This week’s last digital piece of work for me is to update and maintain SharePoint, ensuring that what needs to be communicated is posted as news, people have the right permissions to access what they need and last, but not least, onboarding new starters onto the digital systems.

In summary, although this may not be what we understand by conventional nursing, it is still nursing, nonetheless. Without understanding health and medical issues, knowing what a good care and support plan looks like or what risk assessments should be in place and what risk looks like to our residents, the processes, policies and practices could not be implemented effectively and safely. Everything I do is around ensuring that our residents’ health and wellbeing is managed safely and in a way that matters to them. It's about helping them to keep well for longer (and out of hospital, where possible) and being supported in a place of their choosing. All of this made possible by utilising technology and digital platforms.

My role is the best of both worlds – I get to see the people who matter and to implement and introduce new ways of working within the digital platforms, which enhance the experience for residents and staff alike. Who, really, could ask for more?