As the UK’s aging population continues to grow, there is an increasing need for quality homecare businesses to support those in need of care. According to Age UK, the population of people aged 50+ in England is projected to increase by 19.3% between 2024 and 2044 (an increase of 4.3 million people), while the population aged 85+ is growing the fastest.
For those in this challenging and rewarding field, Nursebuddy can help support you as a partner for growth and efficiency. Nursebuddy is a care management platform engineered in Finland, designed to transform and enhance homecare services. By combining cutting-edge technology with intuitive tools, Nursebuddy empowers homecare organisations to deliver exceptional care efficiently. The platform fosters seamless collaboration among care providers, clients, and families, creating a more connected and effective care ecosystem.
This blog will serve as a handy guide for those looking to start a homecare business, highlighting the essential steps involved and sharing how Nursebuddy’s care management platform can support and accelerate your success.
What Are the Steps to Starting a Homecare Business?
1. Understanding the homecare market and creating a business plan. Research the market - who your competition will be, who your target audience is, who you want to help and what their needs are. This will help you understand what you can offer in your services to stand out in the market and reach your ideal clients.
2. Registering with relevant authorities and meeting compliance requirements. If you're based in England, your new care business must be registered with the Care Quality Commission (CQC), providing a Statement of Purpose which details the services you are planning to provide. Elsewhere in the UK, registration is required with the Welsh and Scottish Care Inspectorates and with RQIA (Regulation and Quality Improvement Authority) in Northern Ireland.
3. Recruiting and training staff. Select a team of skilled and passionate care professionals to make up your home care staff. All staff will need to undergo a DBS check and must complete a Care Certificate. You will need to set up your own policies and processes in line with best practices and compliant with the latest government regulations.
4. Choosing the right tools and technologies to streamline operations. Selecting a quality care management platform will help you to run your homecare business effectively. Integrating technology into care planning improves the quality of care for patients, improves communication between care professionals and families, and allows for seamless integration of digital care records and documentation.
How Nursebuddy Can Support Your Homecare Business
Nursebuddy’s innovative platform simplifies setting up and running a homecare business, through its user-friendly onboarding process, customisable features, and ongoing support for users. Nursebuddy can help to address common challenges such as staff rostering, care records management, and communication through its smart features:
Care Planning: Digitising care plans is made simple through Nursebuddy’s seamless platform. Nursebuddy’s digital care records store details such as hobbies, interests, needs and preferences, which help clients feel understood and cared for. The ability to view all of these details in one place makes it easy for care staff to find the information they need in real-time.
Care Scheduling: Nursebuddy’s easy-to-use domiciliary care rota software and scheduling tools helps homecare agencies cover visits and update rotas quickly when something changes, giving staff instant updates on shift changes and important information they need to know.
Care Delivery: The Nursebuddy mobile Carer App provides care workers with all the information they need to know about each client, helping them to be prepared and prioritise person-centred care while on the go.
The Key Benefits of Nursebuddy for New Homecare Businesses
Nursebuddy’s care management platform has an abundance of smart, intuitive tools to help care businesses thrive - not just survive.
Time-saving through automation. Nursebuddy’s AI-powered scheduling algorithm saves managers time figuring out rota and schedules. Each care plan is templated for speed, but can be uniquely tailored to the client, so carers can deliver truly person-centred care.
Improved transparency for clients and families. Families can log into Nursebuddy’s Family Portal to receive the latest updates about care, at any time, from anywhere in the world. This allows them to feel closer to their loved one and get important information from health professionals about their loved one’s care plan.
Compliance with care standards and data security. Nursebuddy has in-built safeguards to ensure that visits are attended by only the most appropriate carers. Relevant and required documentation, such as DBS checks and skill certifications, are logged against carer records and factored in when scheduling. Documents can be uploaded as evidence of each compliance, with an expiry date attached.
Alerting about critical information. Nursebuddy’s Notifications Centre Reminders is a single place to keep updated on important changes in your homecare business and be alerted when compliances are about to expire, for incidents, reviews, or missed medications.
Easy scalability as the business grows. You can easily add new team members to the Nursebuddy platform and train them to use the app with its simple user interface.
Nursebuddy’s Real-World Impact
With Nursebuddy, homecare provider Care for Me has significantly increased the efficiency of its service and used the platform to thrive through digitisation. Founded in 2011 and located in Dublin, Ireland, Care for Me is a Health Service Executive (HSE) preferred homecare provider.
Since using Nursebuddy, Care for Me has grown to delivering care to hundreds of clients, and has received excellent reviews from their inspectors, clients and staff. The platform has reduced admin time, enabling managers to focus more on quality assurance and client satisfaction. Families have also benefited from greater transparency and trust in the care provided due to improved communication between themselves and care professionals.
Lynda McCann, Care for Me’s Managing Director, said, “Nursebuddy has allowed our company to improve the efficiency of the service we provide. The development team has implemented many large and small features that we have requested, which in turn lead to a more effective system. Being able to assign specific carers to clients as the “Preferred Carer” helps immensely with scheduling our services. The accessibility and security of the system is also a major plus.”
In Summary
If you are looking to start a domiciliary care business and wondering how to begin, Nursebuddy is the ideal partner to help you thrive. Nursebuddy can support you with digital care planning, record documentation, scheduling tools, reminders, and compliance, all in one easy-to-use platform.
Ready to build a thriving homecare business? See how Nursebuddy can help you every step of the way. Book a demo today!
