Homecare is high-trust, high-pressure, and often under-resourced. This playbook focuses on the operations that most often break—call handling, follow-ups, and field coordination—and how to digitise them without adding admin burden.
1) Standardise call intake and outcomes
- Capture caller type (family, hospital, carer), reason, and outcome in a structured flow.
- Make “follow-up required?” explicit, with owner and due date set before the call is closed.
- Give managers a live list of overdue follow-ups to unblock.
2) Turn follow-ups into field-ready tasks
- Convert calls into tasks with checklists (welfare checks, medication callbacks, visit changes).
- Attach notes and files; keep everything in one timeline for accountability and audits.
- Allow carers to mark progress and complete tasks on mobile, even with patchy connectivity.
3) Build quality into the workflow
- Enable quality flags on any call or task; capture evidence and resolution steps.
- Track issues by location and category; spot patterns early (missed visits, medication errors).
- Keep an exportable log for CQC or local authority inspections.
4) Keep people informed without piling on admin
- Provide families with timely updates (call outcomes, follow-up scheduled) from one source of truth.
- Give carers clarity on priorities and due times; give managers a heat map of risk and workload.
- Use automated reminders for due tasks instead of ad-hoc texts and calls.
5) Start small, then scale
- Pilot with one coordinator and a small group of carers for two weeks. Measure: follow-ups completed on time, callbacks reduced, and time spent chasing updates.
- Refine your checklists and follow-up categories based on real usage.
- Roll out to additional teams with clear “why” and simple training.
6) Measure what matters
- Follow-ups completed on time
- Overdue items per coordinator
- Quality issues by category and resolution time
- Time to update families after a call
Digital transformation in care isn’t about more software—it’s about reducing friction for coordinators and carers while proving to regulators and families that nothing slips. Start with calls and follow-ups; everything else gets easier once the loop is reliably closed.