Nottinghamshire County Council to roll out new electronic recording system for home care workers

Care workers will make a freephone call to a monitoring system on the service user’s landline telephone at the start and end of their visits to help ensure they are on time and there for the right duration.

The system will alert the provider if the care worker is more than 30 minutes late so that alternative cover can be put in place.

It replaces battery-powered devices that were coming to the end of their life and were less reliable in sending the necessary information to the provider.

Service users have been informed of the changes and are being assured that there will be no charge to them from the telephone calls.

An alternative system using the care worker’s mobile phone and a new electronic device in the service user’s home will be introduced in homes without a landline telephone line.

Coun Muriel Weisz, chairman of the adult social are and health committee, said: “We want to make sure that people who benefit from home care from one of our providers receive the care and support that they need at the right time and for the right length of time allocated to them.

“The previous devices were less reliable and would have cost around £80 each to replace not to mention the ongoing maintenance costs, so this system is also a lot more cost effective.”