Wiltshire Support at Home (WSAH) is a Wiltshire Council in-house service providing short term domiciliary service to support hospital discharges, and people who require support in their own homes as part of a rapid response service. They have a core reablement ethos, with the service aiming to prevent, reduce and delay the need for ongoing care.  The service supports people who have been discharged from hospital and people who are being supported at home by the Rapid Response Service and require a short to mid-term homecare support to enable them to be as independent as possible.

Kerry Acourt, the Registered Manager at WSAH, discovered through a cost analysis that their primarily paper based system was not just hindering their ability to take on more discharge clients - but was also costing the service tens of thousands of pounds a year!

“In the last year (before Birdie), we used an eMAR service which was £8000/year - but otherwise we continued to use paper support plans”, Kerry explains. “The paper meant that we had staff going into the office - and it could be that they’re in Warminster, and they’ve travelled 11 miles to the office to pick up the support plan and 11 miles back. All of our staff are contracted, so the minute they drive to the office it’s all included in the cost. Combine that with all the additional time spent on admin, and that’s where the huge costs came from.”

Until the team looked at the full cost analysis, the issues with using paper support plans seemed almost manageable. “You get so used to doing it when you’re doing it!”, says Kerry. “Whereas now that we don’t have that, and it just runs so much more smoothly. If something changes now, we know within a minute - whereas before someone would be zooming around to run to the office, print it, arrange for collection, make sure it’s been collected…”.

The cost of this system, combined with the additional administrative effort for the whole team, meant something had to change.

After looking into the costs of adding on a care management package to their existing eMAR system, the team felt it was better to use an all-in-one lower cost solution. So, after a lot of research, the in-house Council Service decided Birdie was the platform to go with - specifically the full Care Management, Rostering and Finance solution.

After onboarding with Birdie, what have some of the key results been so far?

Firstly, the capacity of WSAH to take on hospital discharge cases has gone from one package a day to two. “Before we’d have to drive all the way to the client’s home, complete the plan, drive back to the office, print, arrange delivery…whereas now we can just go out and do it all on the tablet”, says Kerry. “There’s now no reason we couldn’t take up to 30 discharge packages a week, which is almost twice what we could do before.”

The ability to move faster has been further supported by receiving helpful reports through Birdie Analytics that help showcase where things are working well - and where they could do with additional focus. “The more we learn about the analytics and what reports we can run, and what we can see instantly when we need to, the better. We’re still learning, but it’s already better than the old way of doing things!” The Birdie team are providing ongoing support to get the whole team at WSAH get the most out of their data, helping them to reduce manual auditing and get results faster.

Finally, Kerry shared that her care team are feeling more supported than before. “The staff are often quite nervous going to new people”, she commented. “Before they would ring up and say “Can you tell me about XYZ, I’ve got them at 4…” - and they may still be on a previous visit! Whereas now they don’t need that reassurance anymore as they’ve got it all with them and on their phone.” Having quick and simple access to who’s coming up next, what the rota is and what tasks need to be done that day has helped the team feel confident to deliver their best care yet.

Wiltshire Support at Home (WSAH), a Wiltshire Council service providing domiciliary support for hospital discharges and rapid response care, faced a significant challenge due to its paper-based system, costing tens of thousands a year and limiting discharge client capacity. Transitioning to Birdie, an all-in-one care management, rostering, and finance solution, WSAH has effectively doubled its hospital discharge capacity, streamlined administrative processes, and improved overall efficiency.

This digital shift not only reduced costs but also enhanced the team's agility in handling client needs, as evidenced by the ability to manage up to 30 discharge packages weekly. Birdie's analytics tools further aid in identifying areas for improvement, while its user-friendly interface has increased staff confidence and efficiency in providing care.