In our latest case study, Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole Council’s Learning and Development officer Debbie Macaulay has been speaking to one of the council’s adult social workers about how they have been using the Dorset Care Record.
“It is actually a massive help (aspects of huge time saving, accurate information gathering and efficiency) and I have been using DCR since it became available with increasing frequency as more and more detail has become available to view.
In my previous role in care management I found the following benefits of the system:
- Huge time saving to be able to look up information (Next of Kin details, accurate information on current GP surgery, whether a client is in hospital or not, what their medication regime is, past and current medical conditions, diagnosis, allergies etc ) and I don`t have to spend time waiting in the queue on a phone call or chase health colleagues for information.
- Being able to view clients regular and acute medication, when these were last prescribed, etc enables social workers to cross reference evidence and more effectively assess client’s needs ( whether they are able to manage this independently or not), especially when they are affected by cognitive impairment and lack insight into what is happening.
- Being able to see the Encounters clients had with different professionals (GPs, District Nurses, podiatry, dieticians etc) makes our involvement more person centred and social workers are able to be more proactive in responding to rising needs or arranging necessary actions in a timely manner.
- Being able to see past and future medical appointments are a massive help when assisting a client or their families with coordination, or when needing hospital transport. It is also essential when we case manage more complex cases when social workers have intense and active involvements, especially when the client is no longer able to manage their affairs or lack the cognition to keep appointments.
- Being able to see the details of involved professionals also saves time. If we have to liaise with them directly it takes quite a while to find out who we should talk to in the first instance.
- Being able to see hospital discharge letters or outpatient letters gives a lot more information for accurate assessments and provision of good quality service.
- Ability to see referrals (pending or completed) is also great help in coordination or to ensure necessary referrals are requested.
In my current role as a Continuing Health Care (CHC) practitioner social worker I am using it even more often, as DCR contains a lot of medical details and information that may not be readily available within the evidence, care homes or CCG provides, or even within the GP summary sheet. This helps us to be more effective in comprehensive assessment, underpinned with accurate details and dates, when assessing clients’ eligibility for CHC funding, which in turn contributes to savings to the council, when we consider CHC eligible clients who otherwise would be funded by BCP council.
I have to say I absolutely love this system and it made my professional life a lot easier and clients as well as the council certainly benefits from us being able to use it. I have been recommending it to all my colleagues since the beginning.”