SUPPLIER FOCUS: The path to higher occupancy

Professor Stuart Solomons, founder of Ernie Connects, explains how technological integration leads to a dramatic increase in occupancy rates for care homes.

Ernie Connects is the only fully integrated resident-centred care system in the UK. We have combined the best-of-breed technology from the United States and the UK to create the country’s first fully integrated platform. No other care home system allows residents to have anytime video consultations with doctors and nurses.

Dramatic increase in occupancy rates

Research highlights that more than a third of people are ‘too frightened’ to put their parents into a care home.

However, studies from the USA show that when a video communications system is provided for residents, their family and friends, 24 hours a day, it drives care home selection and occupancy rates from the low-mid 80s to the high-mid 90s.

Ernie Connects is the only care home system in the UK that allows residents to have anytime video consultations with doctors and nurses.

The ability to get a doctor consultation for a resident within a very short period is critically important, and a huge time saving opportunity for the care home. Ernie Connects provides an early intervention and is shown to drive huge increases in satisfaction from friends and family. An increase in the quality of care and CQC ratings will naturally follow these improvements.

Transparent care plans

Our fully transparent leading edge digital care plan can be accessed by family and friends, medical surrogates and other clinicians to recommend improvements, provide auditability and to assist in the management and care of the resident.

There is currently concern following the early rulings of Lloyd vs Google that allowing the care home to control the data may prove to be a breach of the Data Protection Act. We make sure of GDPR compliance by using military grade software and not just using the cloud but also ensuring that the resident or their surrogates both hold and control the data.

Our care plan is completely free as it comes as an integrated part of the overall Ernie Connects platform.

Significant reduction in staff turnover & usage of agency staff

Pre-and-post satisfaction studies in the United States amongst carers and care home staff have shown a measurable increase in staff retention, an increase in efficiency and much lower agency staff usage.

It’s axiomatic that the ability of the carer to relate on a visual and personal basis with the resident’s family and friends encourages social ‘stickiness’. It forms a much stronger interpersonal bond if all parties can be involved in the dialogue of the resident’s care journey, resulting in greater levels of satisfaction and less commoditisation of the resident. It is a sociological phenomenon that the better you get to know the relatives of the resident, the greater the rapport and a higher standard of care.

The only fully integrated, no-touch vital measurement system in the UK care sector

Our platform has the continuous ability to measure all of a resident’s vital signs, blood pressure, heart rate, breathing rate and temperature. Moreover, the British-designed technology is approved by The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence and trusted by the NHS, having been tested on over 8,500 patients – monitoring over a million heartbeats. Ultimately, remote patient monitoring/managing is only truly achievable when you have the instant ability to access residents’ vital signs.

Join the movement

With our technology, care providers will benefit from a substantial increase in productivity, occupancy rates, and a reduction in costs and staff turnover.

The future of care homes is available now for the introductory price of just £50 per month, per resident, which includes full use of the Ernie Connects device, platform and software.

The brand new Samsung Galaxy tablet has been chosen to offer a superior sound system and high-contrast screen to aid the visually and hearing impaired, and the tablet comes complete with a comprehensive entertainment system (including TV, movies, radio etc) and a full range of Alzheimer’s applications for the cognitively impaired.

At Ernie Connects, we’re passionate about creating a thriving, streamlined ecosystem of care that ensures a more efficient and sustainable business model for care providers and a better quality of life for the resident and their family.

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