Advancing Digital Skills and Communication for Enhanced Resident Care

Rebecca Shotton, Digital Project Manager at Primary Care Doncaster, shares the details of a digital skills initiative with care & residential homes in Doncaster, aiming to equip staff with digital tools and training.

I, along with my colleague at Voluntary Action Doncaster, have been working with care & residential homes in Doncaster to help them develop their digital skills and input new digital practices, that will lead to improved access to timely communication about resident care with other care providers. As part of this work, we’ve so-far engaged with 35 of 43 homes to update the software on their iPads, including adding a new post-falls app; support managers to gain access for senior staff to the NHS Mail shared mailbox provided to each home; roll out bespoke training packages for staff to build confidence in email systems and Microsoft Teams, and offer guidance on how managers can continue this work on an ongoing basis with new staff so that they will be equipped for the imminent advancements in digitally-enabled care.

We’ve seen real success with this so far, and have completed our roll out with 20 of the 35 homes. We still offer ongoing check in’s with managers and are hoping to add another 5-6 homes to our completed list by the end of the month. While we’ve faced some challenges, we’re thrilled to hear from care homes who are feeling much better connected to their GP surgeries and other care partners, and managers who have gained some time back in their day as they’ve been able to delegate tasks to other team members following our training. We have also provided the shared mailbox email addresses for every home to each of the homes we’ve worked with so far, and going forwards we hope that they will support each other to develop their digital skills where needed.