5 min read.
How Visitor Management Systems Can Help Care Homes
With 91.6% of care homes in England facilitating visits as of the week ending the 27 April 2022, it’s important that care home staff have sufficient digital systems in place to manage visitors. Not only can visitor management systems improve visitor experience, they can also reduce administrative burden on care home staff, who already face busy and pressured day-to-day schedules. With the adult social care vacancy rate at 10% (up 4.3% from March 2021 according to Skills for Care), it is more important than ever to utilise technologies to ensure care home staff can focus more time on the care and wellbeing of residents.
Paper-based visitor books and simple visitor systems offer limited, non-compliant data collection, lack the security and safety provision required and don’t go far enough in providing relevant and useful features.
So what are the benefits to care homes of a visitor management system?
Prepare visitors ahead of their appointment
Welcome visitors and ensure they receive important information before they arrive, such as policies and questionnaires by pre-booking visitors in ahead of their appointment. When visitors are pre-booked into EntrySign, a professional confirmation email is sent automatically. Visiting time and date, an interactive map and directions, a quick sign in QR code and a calendar attachment can be included, creating a smoother visitor experience. A one-time access code can also be included to automatically release car park barriers.
Save time with self-service sign-in and seamless integrations
Visits from family and friends are incredibly important for the well-being of residents. With a sign in system in place, visitors are easier to manage, allowing staff to focus their time on resident care and other tasks. Self-service options provide a swift and streamlined sign in process, without needing a receptionist or staff member to be present.
A range of features and integrations can reduce paperwork and administration time by digitising data, creating instant reports and automating manual tasks. EntrySign can also be integrated with time and attendance, payroll and HR systems. Improving awareness of visiting rules and policies before and during the sign in process also saves time.
Improve care home security and safety
Care homes should feel safe and comfortable for both residents and staff and part of this is keeping the premises secure. Along with other preventative measures, care home managers have a duty to ensure data is managed and stored securely and the risk of intruder entry is low. Sign in systems provide extra surveillance and security, retaining an accurate and secure record of everyone on-site and in the past.
Designated staff members can view, filter and find important information, such as visitor details, photographs, signatures and answers in EntrySign’s Back Office Suite. Individuals can even be added to a restricted list to flag them in the system and holt the sign in process. EntrySign can also directly integrate with door access control systems, such as Paxton, Stanley and Act creating one secure entry solution.
Easily monitor visitor, employee, agency staff and resident movements
With a visitor management system, the movements of visitors, employees, agency staff and residents can easily be monitored when they sign in and out of a care home. As well as clearly seeing who is visiting, it is easy to monitor which staff are present and what time they arrived, left, and went on their break. Staff sign in and out data can be used for accountability, timekeeping, payroll and reporting purposes.
Residents can also sign out with EntrySign, and important information can be recorded such as when they will be returning and if they have the required medication. A range of EntrySign apps also provide options to monitor visitor and staff movements.
Better compliance with the CQC and other regulatory bodies
From the quality of care to privacy protection, electronic sign in systems can help care homes comply with a diverse range of rules and regulations. EntrySign covers many areas within the key lines of enquiry (KLOEs) framework. This framework is used by the CQC to rate care homes.
Some features that can help with KLOE compliance are displaying important policies and notices for acceptance when signing in and collecting feedback when signing out. EntrySign also includes accident and incident reporting, infection control and visitor screening and data management features.
Be prepared in the event of an evacuation
Unfortunately, care home fires are not that uncommon, with some ending in catastrophic consequences. With many disabled and vulnerable residents in care homes, it is important to make sure appropriate emergency evacuation procedures are in place. Visibility of who is on-site and who requires assistance is also important.
This is why EntrySign can integrate directly with fire alarm systems, automatically triggering the evacuation procedure when the alarm sounds. This procedure sends an up-to-date evacuation list (with those requiring assistance highlighted) to multiple email addresses and printers automatically. People can easily be marked as safe with the EntrySign Live web-app from a mobile or tablet device.
Facilitate safe visiting
Post-pandemic, it’s still vital to ensure care homes have extra measures in place to keep vulnerable and elderly patients protected. Visitor management systems provide features, which easily allow care homes to follow key aspects of the CQC guidance on infection prevention and control.
The CQC recommends that care homes have a booking system in place to stagger arrival times to facilitate safe visiting. A good visitor booking system, aka visitor management system such as EntrySign, can stagger visitor arrival times automatically, manage on-site personnel numbers and provide a range of screening and infection prevention solutions.
