Spotlight on Rash Joomun, Head of Operations for InstaCare Systems

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InstaCare Systems are a Courtney Thorne Gold Partner, based in Devon and covering the South West region. They are independent suppliers of nurse call and all associated technologies. They work hard for their customers to maximise the use and lifespan of their nurse call systems. The ethos is to provide a local, efficient service, working with the leading manufacturers. Their engineers are trained and have extensive expertise with Courtney Thorne Nurse Call Systems along with other brands on the market. This means they can provide truly independent advice to their customers, along with bespoke solutions tailored to their homes and all with an emphasis on maximum value for money. They build long term relationships with customers and suppliers alike, underpinning second to none customer service.

1. How long have you been with Instacare?

I co-founded InstaCare Systems with Gail Tyas and Chris Booker in 2013, nearly 8 years ago. So, I’ve been here from the very first customer to the present date.

2. Could you explain a little bit about your role?

As the most senior engineer on the team, my main role is to oversee all new nurse call system installations and service inspections along with creating integrated solutions that truly work for our homes. On a day to day basis, I am usually on-site, ensuring that our systems are installed seamlessly or working hard to give our customer’s existing nurse call systems the best life span through regular and consistent servicing. I work tirelessly to make sure that our customers get the best value for their money. It’s really the core of our business. We treat our customers as we would our own family. Our ethos is to ensure spending is appropriate, necessary, and creates maximum impact on care home efficiency.

3. What challenges have your clients faced during the COVID pandemic?

Our clients have met huge challenges since COVID struck. The impact initially was extremely detrimental, with homes feeling under-supported and, as always, under-funded by the government. The expectations on how homes look after their residents have been stretched to new levels we could not have foreseen. Human resources have been even more stretched, due to staff having to take time off to quarantine, whether through track and trace or if through testing positive themselves. This has forced our customers to look to technology to try and help improve their working processes and implement changes very quickly. This in itself has proved challenging as technology has needed to be identified quickly and installed under challenging and restrictive circumstances. I think the ever-changing status of COVID’s impact on our homes, along with the constant changing of rules and laws set out by the government, has meant that everything has taken longer to do and given them even more hoops to jump through to achieve improvements.

4. How did you help your clients overcome those challenges?

We have taken the approach of helping them to make those changes quickly. From the decision-making process, by providing experienced and unbiased advice to our customers and by guiding them to make choices on new technology or by better use of their existing equipment, right through to implementing new systems. We have worked extremely hard to ensure our customers have continued support, both remotely, wherever possible, but also onsite. We have moved fluidly with the changes in rules, ensuring that our homes are kept safe whilst we are working with no slippage on efficiency and speed of delivery of products or services. We have even worked with our customers on background documents, supporting grant applications to get funding in place.

5. Has technology helped your customers overcome challenges throughout the pandemic?

Absolutely! With staff shortages due to quarantine and positive test results, we have helped our customers use technology to relieve that shortfall. From using wireless fall saving devices more laterally than normal, to the use of call bells to ensure the implementation of “zones” within a home, to the reduction of staff crossover and subsequent risk of infection. No one can replace the carers, that is for sure, but the use of technology to support their work and reduce their workload has been vital in the battle against coronavirus.

6. How have you seen Care Home Technology progress over the last 5 years?

We have watched technology hugely progress over the last 5 years. From the introduction of wireless call bell accessories to the much broader use of things such as electronic care plans. It’s exciting to see the integration options that are now available, from apps to intelligent systems that allow the crossover of information between a call bell system to a digital care plan. I think that the speed with which it has changed can sometimes be daunting to our customers, which is where we come in. We support them in choosing and implementing new technology, with training updates for their staff and hand-holding any team members most resistant to change.

7. How do you see it progressing over the next 5 years?

I think that we will see more and more integration of systems within the care home setting. Centralised intelligent systems that collect and report on data, giving real-time information that can be used to improve working processes. The use of app-based technology has only just begun in the adult and social care industry and I think we will see a rise in its use over the next 5 years. Plus the ability of technology to reduce time wasted by staff completing the paperwork will improve the amount of time spent on human contact and the caring role that their job really entails.

I hope that a long-lasting consequence of COVID is that our homes are better funded, allowing them to make use of all the exciting new technology available to them. Undoubtedly there will be some breakthrough technology coming onto the market in the next 5 years but if it remains out of reach due to lack of financial support to our homes, it won’t have the immediate impact the developers will be hoping for.

8. Have you had any feedback from Care Homes about how technology has improved things for them?

We have installed new systems in various homes which have been directly used to improve infection control whilst also improving carer efficiency in response to call bells. By installing a new nurse call system alongside a paging system, has allowed the home to be zoned, so specific staff responds to specific residents. The information being sent to a handheld device ensures that less time is wasted returning to the main display panel to see the details of the call. This has been of particular importance where residents within a home have tested positive for Covid and need to be entirely separated from the rest of the residents. The feedback has been overwhelming. Where technology has been used in this way, it has alleviated some of the strain on the staff whilst ensuring that infections are contained as effectively as possible.